


Dragon Ball M

by The_fake_ReliusClover



Category: DCU, Dragon Ball, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Badass Gine, Between Flash Seasons 3 and 4, Character Growth- Aya, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Depression, Dragon Ball Minus and Bardock Special Fused, Earth-1 Android 18, Earth-1 Android 18 was Liberty Belle, Easter Eggs, F/M, Flashbacks, Gen, Gine Goes Through A Lot, Lost Love, Minor DC Characters, Minor Dragon Ball Characters, Multiverse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Some Humor, Superhuman Advanced Defense Executive (SHADE), Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-10-30 05:36:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 47,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17822885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_fake_ReliusClover/pseuds/The_fake_ReliusClover
Summary: 41 years ago, a mad tyrant named Frieza destroyed my homeworld and killed the man I loved. I fought against his rule until a chance encounter led me to discover an entire multiverse of worlds and universes. I am now a mercenary, traveling across different realities without a home or a purpose until a job led me to a crisis on Earth-1. To prevent this world from suffering from the same fate as my own, I must unite with its heroes and conquer my inner demons.I may not be a hero, but I am a Saiyan.I am Gine.





	1. T-Minus 41: Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To state the obvious, I don't own the Dragon Ball franchise or any of the DC Comics properties used in this story, including but not limited to the Arrowverse shows, the comics, and cartoons. I only own this nonprofit story.
> 
> Now that that's out of the way, here are some notes before we begin.
> 
> The main story of this fic takes place during the time skip between Seasons 3 and 4 of the Flash, meaning that Barry won't be in the picture for a long time unfortunately. As for the DBZ part of the timeline, the story takes place shortly after the Tournament of Power arc but before Dragon Ball Super: Broly, and it assumes that the events of Dragon Ball FighterZ (particularly the Android 21 route) happened. This will have greater significance later on, but for now that's all we need to know. Additionally, I will also be placing flashback segments throughout this story ala Arrow that tells the journey of Gine after the destruction of Planet Vegeta and the events that led her to be the woman we see 41 years later (sorta, time gets weird across universes).
> 
> Additionally, I decided to integrate the 12 universes of Dragon Ball into the Arrowverse multiverse, and they are going to designated Earths 101 to 112. Although Dragon Ball has its set of gods that govern these universes, for the purposes of this fic, the Omni-Kings and his subordinate gods only have influence over these universes. I know it sounds terribly confusing, but here's my idea. There are a multitude of gods and other godlike beings and forces across the multiverse. Some of them are only powerful enough to influence one world, while others are strong enough to hold sway over multiple universes. However, most gods are unable to influence universes outside their sphere, at least not without severe consequences. This means that the gods of Dragon Ball won't be a factor in this story for as long as Gine is outside of the Omni-Kings' universes, meaning that I don't have to worry about them and can use DC's cosmic forces without breaking the lore too bad.
> 
> As for the naming conventions, not everyone is going to refer to their world by the "official" Earth designations. Dragon Ball's gods, for example, refer to their universes as Universes 1 to 12 like canon as to them their universes are the center of the multiverse. Just keep that in your back pocket for now.
> 
> That should be enough notes for now. Please enjoy the first chapter of my story.

**A Lifetime Ago**

Planet Vegeta is the homeworld of the Saiyans, a race of alien warriors under the command of the evil prince, Frieza, who himself is a member of the expansionist military and corporate faction known as the Cold Force. It is a harsh arid world as savage as the Saiyans who inhabit it. Only a dozen cities dot the entire expanse of the planet, and most of them are glorified spaceports. The few proper cities are small and primarily inhabited by the elite of Saiyan society and favored mid-class warriors. Everyone else either live off-world or in a few scattered villages outside the cities. It was within one of these villages outside of Planet Vegeta's capital, where a Saiyan woman named Gine calls home.

In a pointy clay hut near the edge of the village, Gine was preparing food on top of a stone table in her kitchen.

The woman was unusually short for a Saiyan, who are often thought of as tall and muscular due their reputation as a warrior race. But like most of her kind, Gine had black hair, dark colored eyes, and a monkey tail swaying freely in the air. Her hair was long and spikey, and she wore a dark green and tan battlesuit with a matching skirt over black leggings. Gine left her shoulders and arms bare, exposing her pale and surprisingly clear skin, and she wore violet armbands and white boots.

While Gine has long since retired from the military, Saiyan fashion often reflects the race's emphasis on martial prowess. This collective obsession over combat is a fact of life that no Saiyan could ever avoid, and it is one that Gine knew all too well.

The Saiyan woman was currently cutting up a raw dinosaur leg with a special black knife when the door opened behind her.

"Hey Gine. I'm home," a gruff male voice spoke behind her.

Gine turned around to see a Saiyan named Bardock returning home after a mission in the frontier. Bardock was a taller and more muscular man with a prominent scar on his cheek. He also wore a black and green battlesuit, an image one would associate with the average Saiyan. In any other setting, the Saiyan warrior is that kind of person you wouldn't want to meet alone in a dark alley. However, he wasn't that person to Gine.

To her, he was her beloved husband.

A wide smile brightened the Saiyan woman's expression as she dropped what she was doing. "Bardock!", Gine chirped happily before rushing towards her beloved and wrapping her arms around his sides.

Bardock chuckled as he unwrapped his tail from his waist and returned his wife's hug. With her arms still holding him, Gine backed up and looked her husband in the eyes. Overcome with passion and love, Gine moved in to kiss her husband on the lips.

Once the two broke away, Bardock told her, "You looked starved for affection. I haven't been gone that long, Gine."

Gine blushed. "It's just that... I didn't expect to see you again so soon! I thought you were deployed to some distant world in the Outer Rim."

"We were," Bardock began to explain, "But that planet got destroyed by a giant meteor before we could begin the conquest. It was a massive disappointment really, but at least the team and I get to kick back here until the higher ups send us somewhere else."

"Whatever the case, I'm glad it brought you back to me."

Bardock shrugged. "Don't be so dramatic. I would've come back eventually. You're probably the only decent cook in this entire planet."

Gine playfully shrugged. "Glad to know I was missed for the right reasons."

"You're welcome," Bardock teased back. He then asked about their oldest son, "I don't see Raditz anywhere. Where is he?"

Gine pulled away from Bardock as she answered with a proud smile. "He became a soldier a few days ago. He was assigned to Prince Vegeta's squad, and they just left to some far-off planet. I'm sorry you missed him."

"Prince Vegeta, huh," Bardock hummed, "Working with him must be a pain in the neck."

"Yeah, but it's a good opportunity for him! Raditz might actually have a chance for promotion if he worked under an elite, especially royalty."

"You sound optimistic," Bardock said with an expressionless gaze. In his mind, Bardock knew that such a thing wasn't possible for 'low-class trash' like them in this regimented hierarchy, no matter how talented that trash happened to be. A Saiyan getting promoted above their assigned rank was about as possible as divine intervention. Probable in this universe, but highly unlikely. Despite his resigned cynicism, however, Bardock couldn't say that in front of his wife's face, at least for now. "I hope it works out."

Gine could still see the doubt in his face, however. She tried to reassure him. "It'll be fine, Bardock. Raditz is tough like you. He can handle anything that comes his way," Gine then said wistfully under her breath, "At least, better than I did when I was his age..."

"I never said I was worried," Bardock spoke back trying to reaffirm his toughness, "Whether or not Raditz succeeds or fails is his own business, not mine."

"Right...", Gine said unconvinced. "Since you care so little about our kids, I'm guessing you don't wanna check up on our baby."

Bardock scoffed before walking towards his youngest son's room. "I never said that either."

Gine smirked mischievously as she followed right behind him.

The two entered the room to see a naked Saiyan baby floating inside of an orange incubator capsule. As a warrior race, the Saiyans don't have time to have babies the old fashioned way when there are battles to be fought. As a result, most Saiyans are developed within artificial incubators rather than in a mother's womb. This frees Saiyan women from being inactive due to pregnancy, and it allows the Saiyan race to grow their population at a consistent rate despite the casualties associated with their lifestyle. Even noncombatants like Gine used this method to have children due to its convenience.

This doesn't mean that Saiyans don't have sex, however. Their women just don't want to have to deal with the inconveniences of pregnancy.

Gine and Bardock approached the incubator with the former affectionately wrapping her arms around her husband's muscular arm.

She looked at her child with a warm smile on her face as she told Bardock, "He looks like you, doesn't he?"

"Yeah... he does," Bardock responded but with a more blank expression.

"He even has your unique hairdo," Gine teased as she snuggled up next to him.

Bardock sighed. "It's been three years, hasn't it?"

Gine's smile dropped as her expression grew sadder. "Yeah... he's going to be released tomorrow. Then... they're gonna launch him off to some distant rock, and he's either going to wipe out all life on the planet or..."

It was a state requirement for all Saiyan babies to be evaluated in order to be placed into one of the three castes in Saiyan society. Once the baby has spent three years in an incubation tank, their power level is measured, which determines their caste and their future in Saiyan society. Babies with high power levels are placed among the upper echelons of Saiyan society, the elite, and would be placed into prestigious military academies off-world when they come of age. Babies with average power levels are designated as mid-class, and they get placed in a standard boot camp in Planet Vegeta. And then there are the low-class Saiyans like Gine's family.

Babies with below average power levels would either be assigned to low-prestige positions, such as engineers or cooks, or they would be placed in boot camp like mid-level Saiyans to be trained as petty grunts. For the latter, however, they must first be launched off to a low level planet in order to 'test their worth'. These babies would have been mentally programmed via neutral implants to destroy all life on the planets they landed on, usually by transforming into a powerful Great Ape under the light of a full moon. These missions would either end with the children completing their mission, allowing their control chips to signal the homeworld for evacuation, or they would die on the foreign planet, forgotten and unmourned.

That last possibility was what worried Gine the most. She never wanted this life for any of her children. She didn't want to have to risk their lives on some stupid mission before they could learn to talk, but these decisions were made by people much more important than her.

Bardock slowly clasped his hand to his wife's and held it firmly. "He's going to be fine."

"You don't know that," Gine spoke somberly.

"Raditz survived his first mission, didn't he?"

"I know, but... you know the odds for infiltration babies. We got lucky last time. What if..."

Bardock interrupted her as he used his free hand to cup Gine's cheek and made her face him. "Gine, listen to me. Our child will survive. He's going to complete his mission, and he's going to come back to us. He's strong, no matter what the power readings said. Trust in that strength. You're not gonna mourn him, I promise."

"How do you know that?"

Bardock simply smirked and answered, "You were a lot weaker when you were his age, and you survived, didn't you?"

Gine laughed. "You have a weird way of cheering people up, you know?"

"Did it work?"

Gine nodded softly. "A little, yeah."

"Good," Bardock said awkwardly, "Just don't tell anyone about it. I have a reputation to maintain."

"Don't worry," Gine chuckled, "Your secret is safe with me."

Bardock then turned to his son's incubator and asked, "I wasn't there when you gave him his name. What is it?"

Gine turned to look at her child. With a proud smile, she answered, "His name is Kakarot."

* * *

The next day, Gine and Bardock were seeing their son off before he gets launched into space inside a spherical pod. Both parents were standing in the pod launch chamber with Bardock keeping his distance and Gine standing in front of her son's opened pod.

Kakarot was already in a child sized version of a Saiyan battle suit when the caretakers shoved him in the pod and strapped him in. Inside, the frightened child huddled in his seat as his cries pierced through the air. Each note of her child's cries caused Gine's heart to break a little every time.

Compelled by her maternal instincts, Gine embraced her little boy and whispered soft tunes into his ear to soothe him. Sure enough, Kakarot stopped crying after feeling his mother's warm and loving embrace. Once he had calmed down enough, Gine pulled away and looked at her boy while still holding him with her hands.

Gine gave her son a warm smile that only mother could give to her child as she wiped away a still running tear from his soft cheek.

"Kakarot... you will be going away for a while, okay? You'll face many challenges, but I know you will overcome anything that comes your way. I know you will get stronger for it. You have a strength that I could never hope to achieve. A strength that will make you into a great warrior one day. Believe that, no matter what may come. You are a Saiyan, and know that you carry my hope, my pride... and my love with you," Gine was breathless for a moment before quickly finding the strength to continue, "I love you, Kakarot. And I promise, you will see us again."

The baby didn't understand the words that his mother was saying, but he knew their meaning. Deep down, Kakarot knew that he was loved and that was all that mattered.

Bardock stood by stoically as he watched his wife say her farewells. He was then approached by an old and wizened Saiyan who told him, "We shall be making the launch soon. Tell that woman to step aside."

Bardock glared at the insolent man for a second before walking over to his wife and son. From behind, he told her, "It's time to go, Gine."

The Saiyan mother looked back at him reluctantly and nodded. Gine let go of her son and stepped back as the pod door slowly closed up and sealed the vessel. Confused and scared, Kakarot tried throw himself off the seat only to find himself restrained by his seatbelt. No matter how hard he tried, the child couldn't tear the belt away from him.

When his strength was drained, Kakarot slumped back to his seat and he loudly sobbed once again. However, this time the child heard an audible tap from the pod's window. The Saiyan baby looked up to see both his mother and his father looking down on him and smiling.

Gine placed her hand over the red glass, compelling Kakarot to do the same with his little hand fitting into the bigger silhouette of his mother's hand.

Through the glass, Gine told her baby, "You do whatever it takes to survive, okay?"

With that, both Gine and Bardock took a few steps back to allow the rumbling pod to shoot up into the air and through an opened latch on the chamber's ceiling. The Saiyan parents stared at the pod as it shot through the red skies of their home planet before disappearing in a blink amongst the stars.

Seeing that his wife's eyes were beginning to water, Bardock wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her close.

He told her softly, "Believe in your words, Gine. He will find his way back to us."

This entire day was emotionally taxing for the Saiyan woman. Her son was now racing through space across many lightyears to a distant world with no guarantees of a safe return. But for once, a light of hope burned inside her heart. It flickered and threatened go out amid a wave of doubt and fear, but like a true Saiyan, this hope stood strong, and in the end, Gine knew that it would last the night.

She had no other words to answer Bardock except for a resolute, "I know."

* * *

_This turned out to be one of the last moments I ever got to spend with my family._

_A few months after Kakarot was sent away, Lord Frieza betrayed my people and destroyed our homeworld. My husband, Bardock, tried his best to stop that madman from destroying everything we held dear._

_But in the end... he died with the rest of our planet._

_This was not to be my fate, however._

_Through a stroke of luck or perhaps misfortune, I was spared while the rest of my people died in a pointless genocide._ _For the longest time, I sought vengeance against Frieza for everything he took away from me._

_I trained, fought, and killed for my chance at revenge. I became more powerful than I ever thought possible... but at the cost of my soul._

_For many years, I lived only to avenge my people and my family by killing Frieza and finally ending his reign of terror._

_And in the end... Frieza was killed by someone else before I could get my chance._

_With my only goal lost to me, I drifted as an aimless mercenary across an indifferent multiverse._ _I lived my life job to job, paycheck to paycheck in a meaningless journey across countless realities with each day being more empty than the last._

_However, my life would soon change once more in a strange little world known as Earth-1._

_For better or for worse, this was where my life would begin again._

* * *

**41 Years Later**

"Hey..."

"Hey lady."

"Wake up!"

Gine was rudely shaken from her slumber.

She was sitting down on a dirty stool and laying her head down on a bartop before waking up. With her vision blurred and her head pulsing with a nagging pain, Gine looked around to see that she was inside an empty sci-fi cantina. In one of her hands was a half-empty bottle of vodka and in front of her was the bartender and owner of this establishment, a human with brown hair and with a black hoodie on.

From what little Gine remembered after waking up, she was in a space station. No... not quite.

She was in Hardcore Station, a city-sized complex similar to a space station that is nestled within its own pocket dimension. It is a nexus of life for a great many people from all over the endless multiverse. For many, Hardcore Station was a refuge from the various troubles of Earth life. For others, it was a pitstop to rest and resupply before starting a new life on another Earth or just find adventure on infinite Earths. And for a privileged few, the station was where they conduct their business. More often than not, it was the shady kind.

These days, Gine was in that last category. However, that was unrelated to why she was drinking herself into oblivion in this bar.

Said bar was also reasonably lit, causing Gine to wince and nurse her headache once the light stabbed her sensitive eyes. She groaned and spoke to the bartender, who was looking down at her with disdain. "You... what the hell do you want?", the Saiyan said with a slur that clearly indicates that she is currently hungover.

"It's closing time," he responded with an irritated grumble, "I want you out of my bar. ASAP."

Gine scoffed. "I can't go home yet," she burped in a most unladylike manner before continuing, "My night is... just getting started."

"Well, you can continue your night someplace else. The Prometheus is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., no exceptions. Get out."

"You're such a buzzkill," Gine whined, "Fine. I'll leave, but you gotta give me a bottle of scotch for the road."

"Yeah, no. Just get out of here."

"I'll pay double for it," Gine added.

"Do you want me to call security?"

Seeing that the stubborn bartender wasn't budging on the issue, Gine groaned as she reluctantly got up from her chair while finishing her bottle. However, as she turned to leave the Saiyan woman bumped into something tall and dense. Staggering back, Gine looked up to see a muscular, orange-skinned alien with pointed ears and a distinct lack of a face. He wore a purple and black sleeveless combat suit with metal bracelets, a utility belt around his waist, and an assortment of weapons all over his person.

This was an alien bounty hunter, one of the more infamous ones known throughout the multiverse, and he was currently staring down (in a manner of speaking) at the shorter woman.

Gine sighed. "Chun Yull. What do you want?"

The bartender glared at this new interloper and yelled at him, "Did you see the sign?! We're clo-"

The alien pulled out one of his laser pistols at the shouting bartender. The human's face instantly warped from anger to bone-chilling fear as he stared down the barrel of Chun Yull's gun. The bartender raised his hands and stuttered, "I... mean... you can stay as long as you like. Do... do you want..."

_"Stop talking,"_  Chun Yull told the human through low-level telepathy inherent to his race. The bartender complied with a shaky nod as the alien looked back at Gine.  _"I am here to collect what I am owed, Gine."_

"And what would that be?", Gine said with disinterest apparent in her voice.

_"My money,"_ Chun Yull answered with a growl as he holstered his gun,  _"You stole my mark during my hunt in Earth-21. That bounty is my right! And you will surrender it to me."_

Gine scoffed. "Seriously? You broke into a bar and waved that gun around because you got jealous that I got to Professor Zoom faster than you did? You're very petty. You know that right?"

Chun Yull stood adamant on this.  _"You stole my kill! And you will right this wrong! Or else!"_

"I don't have to do shit," Gine spat venomously, "I got that bounty fair and square, 'Faceless Hunter'. There's no way in hell that I'll give away fifty thousand credits just because you can't get over the fact that I'm a better mercenary than you will ever be."

This heated Chun Yull's anger to its boiling point. The alien bounty hunter unsheathed an energy laced knife from his belt.  _"Either you give me my money, or I take your head, Saiyan."_

There was a time in Gine's life where she would have obeyed men like Chun Yull out of fear. The old Gine would've been intimidated by the Faceless Hunter, and she would've been too meek to fight back. She would've given Chun Yull the money to avoid any trouble. However, that Gine died a long time ago.

Gine mustered the deepest, most disdainful scowl she could as she glared at Chun Yull's nonexistent face. "I'd like to see you try."

Gine gripped her bottle like a bludgeoning weapon as both alien mercenaries stared each other down with enough tension to drown a room with anxiety. The Saiyan was ready to smash the Faceless Hunter over the head with the bottle when another player intervened.

"This course of action is ill advised," a pale skinned woman in a black dress said as she came in between the two dangerous alien warriors with only a paper bag to defend herself, "I don't think Station Security would appreciate the two of you causing trouble in this fine gentleman's establishment."

The woman pointed them back to the bartender, who was hiding behind the counter and shaking in fear.

Chun Yull looked back at her.  _"I am not leaving until my grudge has been satisfied."_

"And I want to knock some sense into this faceless bastard," Gine remarked, "Step aside, Aya. I got this."

Thankfully, Aya was faster to act as she got out of USB drive from her skirt pocket. She pressed it into Chun Yull's chest and told him, "This drive contains fifty thousand HS credits. Will you leave my friend alone now?"

Chun Yull grabbed the drive and grumbled irately as he looked back at Gine.  _"For your sake, I hope our paths never cross again."_

Gine barked back, "I think you meant 'for your sake', because if I ever see your orange ass again, I'm gonna kill you."

The two stared at each other for a few more uneasy moments until Chun Yull shook his head and began walking out the door. The two women stared at the volatile bounty hunter until he left the bar, taking the previously tense mood with him.

Aya sighed as she looked back at her friend and scolded her, "Did you have to antagonize him? He already hates you!"

"He made you gave away fifty thousand of our hard-earned credits! Of course I'm a little mad!"

Aya calmed down and explained, "I didn't actually give him the credits. That was a dummy drive."

"What?", Gine raised her eyebrow.

Aya flashed a sly smile. "Instead of fifty thousand credits, all that Faceless Hunter is going to receive is a computer virus... and over nine gigabytes of cat videos."

Gine smiled back. "You really do think of everything. I'm sorry I doubted you."

Aya shrugged. "Someone has to watch your back," she then turned to the bar counter and called out, "He's gone. You can come out now."

The bartender got back up slowly. Once he realized that the Faceless Hunter was gone, the human sighed. "Thank the Lord! Thank you for getting that alien psycho off my bar Miss... Aya, was it?"

The pale woman nodded took a respectful bow. "It was the least I could do. I'm just glad that you and your bar remain intact."

"Intact? I... yeah, thanks for that."

"But if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to have my friend here change into some fresh clothes before leaving. It'll only take a few minutes."

"What's wrong with the clothes I have now?", Gine asked obliviously.

Aya awkwardly pointed at her crotch. "You have a little... spill on your..."

Gine looked down to dark and wet mark drenching her navy blue jeans. "Oh," she spoke with dull surprise.

"Yeah sure. Go ahead," the bartender nodded appreciatively, "Take as much time as you need. It's the least I could do after what you've done for me."

Aya bowed respectfully. "Thank you, sir. What are you going to say to the nice man, Gine?"

The Saiyan woman rolled her eyes as she took the paper bag from Aya's hands. As she walked towards the women's room, she grabbed a bottle of scotch off the shelf without the bartender's permission before slamming the bathroom door on her way in.

Aya played with her fingers and chuckled nervously. "She's usually nicer than this, I swear."

The bartender shrugged. "Hey, I used to run around Gotham in a goofy helmet. You're getting no judgment from me sister."

* * *

Gine stormed into the bathroom in a huff as she downed the entire bottle in under a minute and dumped it into the trash can.

All things considered, this public restroom was cleaner than most in this part of the station. The foor barely had any dirt and only a few pieces of litter were about. The sinks are only lightly coated in grime, the mirrors are only slightly scratched up, and there's even a loaded paper towel dispenser and a half-full soap dispenser. The poop and piss aroma in the air is also very diluted too!

Again, this is a very nice bathroom for tavern/bar standards. Doubly so for Saiyan standards, which is basically just a filthy bucket or a hole on the ground for most commoners.

Sighing, Gine headed towards the larger handicap stall in order to give herself enough room to change clothes. Once she locked the door behind her, Gine dropped the bag in the floor before turning to face the full-view mirror on the back of the door. The Saiyan unwrapped her tail from her waist before removing her leather jacket and her shirt, leaving her torso exposed save for her bra. Before she could continue, however, Gine felt compelled to stare at her reflection for a few moments.

A lot has happened in the past several years. Gine has certainly gotten older since then, but thanks to her alien genes, she was able to retain most of her youth save for a few grey hairs on her wild mane. However, those years have left their mark on Gine, most of which can be seen all over her body.

Ever since Bardock died, Gine had been forced to fend for herself in order to survive. Her once lithe and skinny body has become more lean and muscular due to the training and combat that she was forced to endure. There were scars all over her body, souvenirs of past battles and brutal training sessions. Her hands were calloused and her knuckles worn because of this lifestyle. The most prominent of these was a slash across the bridge of her nose, the only mark that Gine could never truly hide, along with an emblem of a tree tattooed to her right shoulder and a burn mark on the back of her neck that resembled a stylized lantern.

Gine didn't want to think about how much she has changed. She didn't want to think about depths that she sunk to in her pointless quest for revenge. She didn't want to think about the people she hurt or the friends she lost along the way. And most important of all, she didn't want to think about Bardock or how much better her life would've been if that idiot hadn't thrown his life away and left her all alone in their universe.

Gine would much rather drown her sorrows or get into pointless fights rather than think about the past. It wasn't healthy and Gine knew it, but it was much easier than facing the fact that all her good years were behind her.

She didn't even have the strength to see Kakarot, her only surviving son, for gods' sake. It would just be too hard after everything she's been through.

Gine sighed. "I'm so pathetic..."

Some days, Gine wished that Bardock survived their planet's destruction instead of her. Gods know that he wouldn't let himself become an insignificant waste of space like she was right now.

"I need a drink..."

But before that, Gine removed her wet pants and underwear before quickly scrounging through Aya's bag to get a pair of light blue jeans. After laying her previous articles of clothing in the floor, Gine hastily pulled up her new pair of pants and fastened the button. She then grabbed a white tank top from the bag and put it on before wiggling through the pink sweater that Aya provided her. Aya even gave Gine a pair of sunglasses to help with her hangover, how thoughtful.

After placing the much needed shades over her eyes, Gine put her old clothes into the bag. She picked it up, but before she could leave, Gine took a glance at her new outfit.

All she could think about is how stupid the bright and soft colors made her look. It completely did not fit Gine's tastes in how just damned childish the entire outfit made her look from the obnoxious pink to the Rainbow Dash picture sown into the front of the sweater along with the  _My Little Pony_  logo on the back.

These days, Gine preferred more tough looking outfits, like that road warrior look she was sporting earlier, along with colors that don't lump her in with the brony crowd. She was a veteran Saiyan warrior, not some fangirl who lives on her mom's basement. She was fearless warrior that doesn't let anything stand in her way. An anti-hero who means business and stops threats before they even happen...

"And now I've become a comic book character from the early 90s," Gine hummed disappointed in herself. Shaking her head, the Saiyan mercenary stormed out the stall and grumbled to herself, "What am I doing with my life?"

* * *

Gine walked out of the women's restroom before making her way towards the exit.

The bartender took a look at Gine's new outfit and smirked. "Nice sweater," he commented snidely.

"Go screw yourself, man", Gine responded before grabbing another bottle off the shelf and walking out the door.

Aya turned to the bartender and bowed. "Again, thank you for your hospitality, Mister Morrison. I hope my friend didn't cause you too much trouble."

"About that, she and that faceless freak are no longer welcome around here," the bartender stated bluntly, "You're welcome anytime, though."

Aya sighed. "I'll be sure to let her know," she said disappointed before awkwardly waved goodbye and walking out the door behind her friend. "That's the fifth bar this week..."

* * *

The two women used a lift to travel from the poorer districts of Level 2 to the commercial heart of the station, Level 3. It is where most of the station's hangars are located, which housed various ships from all over the multiverse. The two walked to the 'parking spot' that they were assigned to and saw their ship, which was strapped down by magnetic docking clamps.

This ship was called the  _Interceptor Mk. II_ , a state of the art, corvette sized ship fueled by the most powerful energy source in the universe. This ship resembled the ship designs of the technologically advanced Oan civilization with a prominent central disk, where most of the ship's facilities are located. Flanking the disk were two smooth and angular thrusters, and protruding from the back was a dual bladed tip with a central green orb. The ship's exterior was painted silver and green, highlighting the smooth curves of the artistically made corvette. However, the most innovative part of this ship's design was its sophisticated D-drives capable of altering the vibrations of the ship itself in order to travel through the dimensional barrier.

This kind of ship is usually the property of the Guardians of Oa (or a version of them) and would not be available to the wider universe. Even in the black market, this kind of ship would usually go for a price that is way above Gine's mercenary budget. However, Gine didn't exactly bargain for this excellent piece of engineering.

This ship has essentially been the two's mobile (and heavily armed) base of operations ever since they have been in business together. It has taken them to many different worlds and realities in search of work (and occasionally fun), served as their shelter through the good times and bad, and it got them out multiple jams when a world's inhabitants tried to kill them. Needless to say, the  _Interceptor Mk. II_ holds a special significance to the two... well, mostly to Aya anyway. To Gine, it was her favorite place to rest her head and not much else.

As the two entered the ship's cargo bay through a ramp hatch, Aya's hard-light form gave out in an electronic buzz to reveal a spherical white and green probe that resembled a large, metal eyeball. The probe flew away deeper into the ship as Gine exited the cargo bay and entered an elevator to get to the ship's main deck. As the lift carried Gine up, she spoke out loud, "Out of all the clothes in my closet, you chose this pink garbage? What the hell?"

A rather lively robotic voice sounded through the ship's speakers.  _"I think you're being too harsh. You look positively adorable in that sweater."_

The elevator doors then opened. Gine walked towards the ship's central 'living room' as she continued to talk to the ship's resident AI, "I don't do 'adorable'. I'm a Saiyan warrior, not some soft Earth teen! I only bought this crappy sweater to fit into that brony convention on Earth-47, a decision I regret if I might add!"

_"At least it got you close enough to capture Ultra-Humanite, and unless you forgot, you were paid handsomely for that job. It wasn't all bad."_

"I suppose...", Gine conceded as she lazily dumped herself into the couch. "I'm still going to burn this ugly sweater later."

_"You're more irritable than usual. What's bothering you?"_

Gine took a moment to close her eyes and take a deep breath. After mentally closing herself off, she responded, "I'm just a little hungover, Aya. You know how it is."

_"Tell me about it."_

Gine sighed. "Not today."

Aya was silent for a moment, almost as if she felt disappointed.  _"As you wish. Thankfully, I have the best cure for a Saiyan hangover. While you were away, I ordered some food from the commercial district. It's already in the kitchen, so feel free eat to your heart's content. I certainly don't have any use for it."_

The Saiyan mercenary hung her head low in shame. "Thanks Aya. You're the best friend I ever had."

_"I know,"_ she remarked cheerfully.

"And thanks for letting me live in this ship rent-free."

_"Don't mention it. I always appreciate your companionship."_

"I'm just gonna... go to the kitchen now," Gine stuttered awkwardly.

_"You do that."_

Gine crawled out of the couch before shambling along towards the kitchen/dining room while nursing a bad headache. Once she went through the automatic doors, Gine saw a wealth of plastic and paper bags littering the top of her table. Thanks to the Saiyan's heightened sense of smell, Gine could pick up delicious and tantalizing aromas from spicy Chinese food to greasy burgers and fries, grocery store rotisserie chicken, sweet smelling pies from the bakery, and more!

The various scents danced inside Gine's sensitive nose and beckoned the hungry Saiyan to this feast like the voice an alluring siren. And like any good Saiyan, Gine obeyed her nose and her stomach with a salivating grin as she literally floated towards the dinner table and gently placed herself on a chair.

One second later, Gine grabbed a takeout box and ripped it open before grabbing fistfuls of rice and orange chicken and shoving it straight into her mouth hole. She cleared out the box in less than a minute before throwing it away and grabbing another take-out box to do the same in less time.

As Gine was burning through a week's worth of food, Aya summoned one of her spherical probes in front of the Saiyan.

_"I know you don't like being interrupted during a meal..."_

"Thun don dew it...", Gine said as her voice was muffled by the half-pound of chicken in her mouth.

_"But this is important. Business important. Would you mind listening for a minute?"_

"Fayne...", Gine conceded before swallowing and dumping the half-eaten rotisserie chicken back in its package. Like a grumpy toddler, Gine glared at Aya's probe as she listened to whatever the nosy AI had to say.

_"Do you remember our regular from Earth-1?"_

"The hot blonde?", the Saiyan guessed rather crudely.

_"Her name is Director Lawrence, but yes. She and her organization just gave us a mission. A manhunt to be specific."_

"It might just be my hangover, but don't we have an ongoing contract with this woman? We're on her retainer, right?"

_"Affirmative. Director Lawrence's organization is paying us five hundred thousand credits a month in exchange for having our services on demand. The missions she issues take priority. The finer details are in that meticulously crafted contract negotiated by yours truly if you require a refresher."_

"So we're her patsies then?", Gine scoffed, "Geez, whose bright idea was that?"

_"That would be yours, Gine."_

The Saiyan blushed with embarrassment. "I... oh..."

Aya let out a static laugh from her speakers.  _"You make this too easy sometimes."_

"Just... just explain the job already," Gine said trying to change the topic. Aya decided to stop tormenting her friend for now, at least until after dinner.

_"The target is one Solomon Grundy,"_ Aya stated before the probe projected a holographic image from its 'pupil' depicting both the image of the target and the intel they have on him.

Based on the images shown, Solomon Grundy is over seven feet tall and is rather bulky with muscles. His skin is pale and cracked like a corpse, and his hair was a slightly darker shade of grey. He also wore a ripped and ragged two-piece suit that is covered in dirt and grime, and the hulking man is often depicted as having a noticeable hunch and a shamble in his gait. Most concerning of all, however, is that Grundy had a bunch a knives embedded in his back but doesn't seem to notice it even when he is moving. In all, Solomon Grundy seems like he was a dead man walking. A dead man who has been taking steroids, but still.

"Is that a zombie?"

_"In a sense. Before Mr. Grundy was reborn into his current state, he was Cyrus Gold of Earth-2, a mob boss who used to control much of Central City's criminal underworld. However, the occupational hazards of his profession eventually caught up to Mr. Gold, ending with him being stabbed multiple times by his enemies before they dumped his body in the sewers. However, when Earth-2's Particle Accelerator exploded, it bathed his corpse with dark matter, reanimating him into a superpowered zombie."_

"He looks like a strong one," Gine commented as she observed a video where Grundy threw a car at the police without much effort.

_"Indeed he is. Solomon Grundy has Class A superhuman strength, and his undead physiology allows him to survive almost everything. However, his mutation also caused him to have a very diminished intelligence, which is why Earth-2's Zoom was able to use him as his personal enforcer when he came into power. He is also one of the many metahumans that accompanied Zoom during his invasion of Earth-1's Central City."_

"From what I heard, Earth-2's Zoom is dead, so who is holding Grundy's leash now?"

_"Grundy, along with the rest of Zoom's gang, was apprehended and detained by ARGUS. However, his black site prison was recently raided by an unknown party. Solomon Grundy was one of the many metahumans who escaped. Based on the information that the client provided, Solomon Grundy has returned to Central City, where he_ _was engaged in a string of anti-government attacks and heists with other metahuman criminals."_

The probe then projected a list of names that the zombie has associated with, which included the likes of Barbara Ann Minerva, Kyle Nimbus, Waylon Jones, and Scandal Savage.

"Interesting crowd...", Gine commented as she hummed to herself, "What does she want us to do with him?"

_"Lawrence requested that we bring Grundy to her alive. Or at least functional in his case. I believe she wants interrogate him. For what, I cannot say."_

"That's probably not our business," Gine then asked, "Do we have a time limit here?"

_"Yes. Lawrence expects us to apprehend Solomon Grundy by the end of the day. I believe she'll take one hundred thousand credits off our next payment for every day he remains free. Harsh, but it's well within her rights."_

"Such a slave driver that one...", Gine commented to herself, "Let's not waste any more time then. Set a course to Earth-1."

_"Already ahead of you. We shall be making the jump after I am finished with our monthy maintenance. By my calculations, we will be ready to fly in approximately one hour. Are you going to rest for your upcoming hunt, or are you going to finish your meal?"_

Gine scoffed. "What kind of question is that?"

The Saiyan picked up the half-eaten chicken, and she sunk her ravenous fangs into its desiccated flesh.

* * *

**Central City**

**Earth-1**

In the city where the impossible is possible, a simply implausible bank robbery was currently in progress. The perpetrator of this relatively mundane crime is an equally mundane techno-criminal named Drury Walker, known in Gotham City as the D-list 'supervillain', Killer Moth.

Drury Walker based most of his MO around a certain Caped Crusader from his hometown but repackaged it into a moth theme. The criminal wore a purple flight suit with robotic insect wings that allowed him to fly. To compliment his outfit, Walker also wore a lime green moth helmet and a utility belt that held many of his gadgets including his signature weapon- a gas gun.

After neutralizing the guards inside with knockout gas and grabbing a bag full of money, Killer Moth rushed out of the bank before the cops arrived.

Kicking down the glass doors, the insect themed criminal turned back to the cornered civilians in the bank, raising his gas gun proudly, as he exclaimed, "Tremble in fear Central City! For this is not the last you will see of the Killer Moth! My reign of terror has only just begun!"

With his piece said, Killer Moth's insect wings fluttered rapidly as rockets propelled him into the sky with his spoils in hand. As the lower tier criminal flew high above the buildings, Drury Walker was confident that this was the beginning of a prosperous, new criminal career.

But then a yellow streak raced across the streets below before running around in electrified circles directly under Killer Moth's flight path. In a split-second, the yellow figure gathered some of that electricity and shot it up into the sky. The lightning bolt hit Killer Moth directly, short-circuiting the propulsion system and making the criminal fall into the earth like a whiney Icarus.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE! MOMMY!", Moth screamed as he wet himself in fear.

Before the insect themed criminal went splat, the yellow shape used his super speed to run up the side of a nearby building before jumping across to catch Killer Moth. His feet landed into the side of the bank before the figure carried Killer Moth into the street.

By the time they stopped, Killer Moth was sitting on the ground in handcuffs with his wings pulled apart and his utility belt confiscated.

"What the hell?!", the Moth cursed as he squirmed around looking for the cause of these impossible events.

He didn't look far as the lesser villain stared at a young man in yellow and red spandex. With a smug smirk, the man was looking down on Walker with the latter's utility belt in his hands. This man was one of Central City's famous superpowered metahumans. He was a speedster, a metahuman with the ability to tap into the Speed Force in order to move at superhuman speeds.

"The Flash?!", Killer Moth whined, "I thought this city was supposed to be hero-free!"

"It's Kid Flash," the young superhero corrected, "And this city has two more heroes that could also kick your ass."

"They don't have powers, don't they?"

"One can open portals and the other one can turn into steel, so you're out of luck there," Kid Flash said frankly.

"Damn it!", the Moth cried as he punched the ground in frustration, "I knew I should've tried Metropolis instead! Why did I even come to this freakshow town?"

The police cars then stopped next to the two.

"Looks like it's off to jail you go," Kid Flash cheerfully pointed out.

"Come on, man. Give me a break," Killer Moth whined rather pitifully, "I was going through a rough patch in Gotham. I just wanted a win for once."

"Well, you are free to find that win in Iron Heights, bug man," Wally responded unsympathetically.

Killer Moth slouched in frustration. "It's Killer Moth..."

The officers stepped out of their vehicles as one of them grabbed the criminal and forced him to his feet.

As Killer Moth was led to the police cars and was read his rights, Kid Flash snidely commented, "Better luck next time, Bee Movie!"

"It's Killer Moth, damn it! And I'm gonna be a big deal one day! You'll see!", Drury shouted muffling his sobs before being shoved into the back of the police car.

As Kid Flash handed off Killer Moth's wings and utility belt to another officer, a tall and handsome brunette approached the young superhero.

"Nice bust, Kid Flash," he commented smiling as the speedster took notice of him. "Steel would've done it better, but you did good."

Kid Flash smiled back. "Oh really?", he said coyly, "How do you think Steel could've brought down Mothman while he was in the air, good citizen?"

The man pointed at a nearby sewer grate. "He could've thrown that at him. Three hundred pounds of metal flying as fast as a bullet would've dropped the Fly like that," he said snapping his fingers.

"And if he got right back up?"

The man then motioned a swing. "Metal fist to the face. I hear Steel has quite the right hook."

Kid Flash laughed. "You do realize that you just killed the guy twice over now, right?"

The man shrugged. "Well, we can't all have super speed, bro."

Kid Flash then dropped the veneer and motioned to shake the man's hand. "It's good to see you, Nate."

Nate shook Kid Flash's hand and brought him close into a friendly hug. "You too, Wally."

* * *

Once the cops left with Killer Moth, Kid Flash quickly changed out of his iconic outfit and into his civilian clothes as Wally West, average resident of Central City.

Wally walked down the sidewalk with his friend, Nathaniel Heywood, who was the alter ego of the superhero, Citizen Steel. The two friends and colleagues were shooting the shit as they walked down their city's busy streets.

"So your girl just left you? Just like that?", Wally asked a little surprised.

Nate nodded somberly and sighed, "Yup. Two months of living together, supporting each other, loving each other... and Amaya just left without even a goodbye note. And on my birthday."

Wally nodded sympathetically. "Man, that sucks. Why would she do that? I thought you two were doing good."

"I thought so too, but I guess it had to be this way," Nate sighed as he thought about his former girlfriend's... unusual circumstances. "Anyway, I really don't wanna talk about it."

"I hear you," Wally nodded in understanding.

After a moment, Nate took a deep breath and asked, "So how's Team Flash? You all getting along alright?"

"We're... good," Wally said hesitating, "I mean, we are doing fine. Losing Barry was hard, but we're coping. Well... for the most part."

"I'm listening."

Wally sighed. "Well, the team is doing alright. We're still catching metas even with Barry gone, but Iris has been a little distant lately. She's throwing herself into her work at the expense of... everything else, really. Not that I blame her considering she lost her fiance. Cisco is like that too. Most of the time, he seems to be obsessed with that secret project of his. He barely goes out anymore, but at least he has Gypsy. Thankfully, Dad has been keeping it together... most days at least. With Julian, Caitlin, Tracy, and HR gone, the team kinda feels empty most days. Even a little disconnected."

"That's rough, man," Nate said softly, "If you don't mind me asking, how are you doing?"

"All things considered, I'm doing fine. I'm doing better as a speedster. I'm at a good place with Jesse even if we don't see each other as much these days. I feel a little guilty for taking Barry's spot on the team, but it could be worse."

"That's good, Wally. That's good," Nate nodded along before sighing. "I wish my team was still around. Ever since Rip took away the  _Waverider,_ the Legends are pretty much kaput these days."

"I heard about that. Must be tough."

"Yeah," Nate sighed. "I guess everyone in the hero circle is going through a rough patch recently."

"I'll say. It says something about our situation when I'm starting to empathize with that butterfly guy."

"Talk about some downer endings," Nate mused wistfully. He turned to Wally asking, "Can you think of anything positive to come out of all of this?"

Wally picked his brain for answers until he responded with, "We stopped Savitar from killing Iris. You?"

"We, um... I...", Nate stammered before finally sighing and settling with, "I learned how to make my own donuts."

"That's... good," Wally said awkwardly. It was then that Wally's phone began to ring from his pocket. He pulled it out and answered, "Yeah?"

It was his sister, Iris.

_"Wally._   _There's an ongoing meta attack on a diamond exchange in Wolfman Drive, and he's a big one_ _. CCPD is on the scene, but Cisco is busy with an armed robbery in Pérez Street. There are still civilians present in the area. You better get there fast."_

"On it," Wally said before ending the call. He turned to Nate. "Listen, I gotta go."

"Kid Flash stuff. I get it," he said nodding in understanding.

"You know, you could tag along," Wally suggested with an encouraging smile, "I could use your help."

Nate shook his head hesitantly. "I don't know. I'm not really in the right mind to do anything right now after... you know."

"I get it, but a good friend once told me that if you get bucked off the horse, the best thing you could do is to get back on the damn thing. And speaking from personal experience, kicking bad guy ass is the best way to get back on the proverbial horse."

"That last bit is kinda mess up," Nate remarked before stuttering awkwardly, "But I see what you're saying. And yeah... I guess I could stand to take my mind off of Amaya for a bit. You know what, let's do it. Right now. Before I get cold feet."

Wally patted his friend on the shoulder. "My man."

The speedster then took his friend and disappeared from the street they were on in a streak of yellow lightning.

* * *

Meanwhile on the other side of the city, a police barricade was currently set up outside the diamond exchange, where the metahuman criminal, Solomon Grundy, was currently raiding. A row of squad cars was surrounded around the front entrance with over a dozen cops pointing their guns at the glass doors. Inside, the hulking zombie was pacing around the lobby with a scowl and scores of hostages on their stomachs. Over Grundy's hunched back was a big burlap sack filled with the diamonds he stole. His motive seems to be apparent.

Over a megaphone, Detective Joe West, the father of both Iris and Wally, called out to the metahuman criminal. "CCPD! You're surrounded! Come out with your hands up!"

The zombie meta snarled as spoke back with a more booming voice. "Grundy no have to listen to man-pigs! Grundy want shiny things! Man-pigs better let Grundy keep his shiny things, or Grundy smash puny humans!"

"So he's as stupid as he looks," Joe said under his breath before he shouted into the megaphone, "Listen Mister... Grundy, was it? All we want is keep the people in there with you safe. You want something, I want something, so why don't we just calm down and just talk like adults?"

"Uh...", Grundy drooled stupidly before shaking his head and shouting, "Grundy wants his shiny things! Grundy also want a spiny flying thing! And a pony! A very pretty pony! Give Grundy or Grundy smash!"

"O-Okay we're working on it," Joe said very confused about the situation, "So you want a helicopter and a... pony? Am I getting that right?"

Grundy scratched his head. When the hamster running the wheel of his brain finally sped up, the zombie spoke up, "That right! Give to Grundy now!"

"We're going to need a couple hours to make the right calls. Is that okay to you?"

A rookie cop came up to Joe and whispered to him, "We're not really giving that idiot an actual pony, right?"

"Of course not. We're just buying Kid Flash enough time to get in there and evacuate the civilians," Joe answered softly.

"Just checking. That sounds good," the rookie nodded before going off and whispering to herself, "Because if anyone deserves a pony, it's me..."

Joe repeated, "We just need a couple hours. Can you give us that?"

Grundy growled in a low, menacing tone. "No! Give Grundy now! Grundy wants pretty pony now!"

"And we'll give it to you. Just give us a couple hours. We can't just pull ponies and choppers out of our..."

"No! No! Grundy wants pony now!", the zombie reacted violently as he dropped his burlap bag and began shambling through the lobby towards the counter. As he passed, the zombie's hostages covered their eyes and winced in fear as Solomon Grundy used his sheer bulk to smash through the counter and move towards a nearby safe. He began to rant to himself, "Grundy don't even want stupid shiny things! Grundy wants ponies! And old city! Friends! And Grundy want Zoom back!"

In his rage, the metahuman zombie effortlessly ripped the huge safe door off his hinges as he then threw the metal object out the doors with an animalistic shout. The makeshift projectile smashed right through the glass doors, reducing them to tiny shards, as the safe door began racing towards Joe with almost the same speed as bullet.

The detective's eyes widened as his fellow officers started run away from the metal object's general trajectory. "Oh crap!", Joe cursed as he tried to jump away from the squad car. Thankfully, a yellow streak managed to grab Joe and pull him away safely. As the metal projectile safely embedded itself into the squad car, Joe witnessed the yellow streak run into the diamond exchange. With a relieved sigh, he said, "Thank God for that boy."

As Grundy was finished throwing the safe lid out the door, this streak zoomed all over the lobby, picking up the hostages and dropping them off to the police outside one-by-one. The zombie looked around confused before a brush of wind pelted his undead face. When Grundy opened his eyes again, he saw two superheroes standing in front of him, one in a yellow suit and the other with a more star-spangled outfit.

Citizen Steel began by taunting, "Hey Frankenstein! You're giving us bronies a bad name. Shame on you, man."

The metahuman brute growled, "Grundy's name not Frank Stein! Grundy's name is Grundy!"

Steel whispered to Kid Flash, "Big guy with gray skin and doing stupid speak? Somebody's gonna get sued by Marvel."

"Hulk has green skin though," Wally corrected.

"I actually read that he actually had grey skin in his first appearance."

"Really?"

"Ah huh," Nate confirmed to which Wally responded with an amused smile.

Steel turned to Grundy and continued, "This is usually the part where I talk big and say something like, 'surrender' or 'resistance is futile', but you strike me as the kind of guy who would say something back and throw the first punch like a boneheaded Neanderthal. Am I wrong?"

The zombie shouted. "Grundy no give up! Grundy no punch! Grundy...", he then dug his giant hands deep into the floor and picked up a boulder sized piece of concrete, "Smash!"

The brute then tossed the boulder at the two heroes. Nate whined, "You weren't even trying to hide it that time!"

Kid Flash ran off, while Citizen Steel activated his powers and turned his skin into the metal of his namesake. Now in his Steel form, Nate ran forth and pressed his denser arms forward, catching the boulder around his arms. Steel used his super strength to bear against the makeshift projectile. At the same time, Wally ran forward and raced around Solomon Grundy at supersonic speeds, surrounding the zombie in a circle of yellow lightning.

Solomon Grundy grew frustrated as he struggled to track the young speedster with his eyes. Grundy shouted and grunted as he flailed his fists at the lightning. "Little man! Stay still! Grundy want to smash!"

"If you say so," Kid Flash remarked sarcastically before swinging his arm to fire a lightning bolt from his hand. The lightning bolt struck Grundy directly in the chest, electrocuting him and forcing him on his knees with a pained scream. The speedster then got out of the way as Steel threw the boulder right back at Grundy. The rock shattered into a thousand pieces upon impact on the zombie, and the force managed to launch him across the floor as he let out a pained whimper.

However, Solomon Grundy quickly got back up and started to foam in the mouth as he started to growl like a dog. "Bad men hurt Grundy! Grundy kill bad men! Kill them to death!"

"Out of all the pop culture references that I thought I'd hear today, I'd never thought anyone would reference  _that_ comic," Nate commented snidely.

"I'll bring him back down," Wally said before speeding at Solomon Grundy and running circles around him while also pummeling him with lightning punches.

Grundy moaned and staggered as Kid Flash's barrage of punches began to wear down the metahuman zombie. The onslaught of pain was like a dreadful tidal wave to the simple-minded zombie, but when that pain spiked at its climax, a frightening calm began to overcome Solomon Grundy.

His eyes turned from silver to red, and the zombie took a deep breath similar to that of a bull ready to charge. With a low, indiscernible tone, Grundy stood straight and spoke, "Solomon Grundy..."

With an uncanny precision, Grundy managed to track Kid Fash and swipe him away with the back of his hand, sending him flying. "Born on a Monday!"

As Kid Flash slid down the floor, Steel's eyes widened in shock. "What the hell?!"

Steel tried to retaliate by running up and delivering a forceful punch into the zombie's sternum. However, Grundy barely budged against the hero's fist. After seeing how ineffective his first punch was, Citizen Steel then threw another punch and then another, but again, Grundy wasn't phased. Solomon Grundy then grabbed Steel's sides and lifting him up with his super strength.

"Christened on Tuesday!", Grundy screamed before slamming Steel back to the floor, "Married on Wednesday!"

The zombie picked Steel up by the legs before spinning around in a pivot and throwing him to a nearby pillar. "Took ill on Thursday!"

Kid Flash got up and glared at Grundy. He sped up to the front of the door before running back towards the metahuman zombie at the speed of sound. When he got into striking distance, Wally leaped forward to strike Grundy with an electrified fist. However, Grundy managed to react fast enough to grab Kid Flash's wrist before it could impact his collar. The zombie grinned sadistically before slamming Wally into the ground.

"Grew!", Grundy then slammed Wally again in another direction, "Worse!", and then another, "On!", and another, "Friday!"

The zombie then picked up the bruised and battered Kid Flash and flashed a smile at his pain clenched face before ripping one of the knives from his back and stabbing it into the speedster's gut.

"GAAAHH!", Wally screamed as he felt rusted steel twisting in him.

Grundy laughed evilly before leaning close and whispering into the speedster's ear, "Died on Saturday."

The villain then ripped the knife out of Kid Flash before flinging him away like a football. As Steel got back up with his metal form down, Wally's body impacted on his chest, putting the two back down. As the two heroes squirmed on the ground together, Grundy walked towards them with a gait that resembled less like a shambling zombie and more like the refined mobster he once was with a straight back and a swagger in his step. "Buried on...", Grundy let out a pained grunt as ripped out another knife out of his back, "Sunday!"

"That was the end of Solomon Grundy," the zombie stated before continuing with an evil smile, "But the day is just gettin' started for Ol' Cyrus Gold!"

"What the hell?", Nate said as he watched the zombie's personality change out of the blue. He then heard the pained groans of Kid Flash, and the hero turned to see friend still lying on the floor with his hand clutching is heavily bleeding wound. Steel rushed to his side with concern lighting up his face. "Kid Flash! Don't try to move, you're hurt!"

"Nah... it's not so bad. I can still... gah!", Wally screamed as the pain spiked when he tried to pick himself back up.

Solomon Grundy, or rather his alternate personality, Cyrus Gold, laughed in the background. He taunted in a stereotypical Mafia accent, "I wouldn't worry about him, Steel Boy. Even if he wasn't a speedster, it would take him hours to bleed out."

Steel ignored his taunts as he continued to tend to his friend. "Can you superspeed your way out of here?"

Wally groaned, "Nope! Not as long as I got this hole in my stomach! Damn, sorry to let you down like this man..."

"Hey, don't sweat it bro. Just call Joe. Tell him to pick you up, and let that healing factor of yours do the rest," Nate then turned to the knife-wielding zombie and finished, "I'll take it from here."

Citizen Steel got up and walked towards the villain. Kid Flash tried to outstretch his hand to a nearby pillar to pick himself back up, only to be held back by his stab wound. "Damn it!", he cursed to himself.

The star-spangled hero transformed into his Steel form as he and Cyrus Gold met each other eye-to-eye. Steel told him, "I noticed that you're no longer doing that Hulk-speak from before. What was that anyway? An act?"

Gold shrugged. "A side effect from my resurrection. I became stronger than I ever thought possible, but now I have to share this body with that idiot you saw earlier. Such a patsy, that one. Grundy craves leadership, be it from Zoom or that nutbar who put us up to this. He never realized that with this power, he could be the boss of this town. Well, I ain't gonna make that same mistake. After I'm done wasting all you so-called heroes, Central City's gonna have a new Zoom and his name is Cyrus Gold!"

Steel caught on to what Gold was said. He continued to question him, "And who put you up to this?"

Cyrus Gold looked at the hero funny before chuckling to himself. "A slip up, my bad. Looks like Grundy's rubbing off on me more than I'd like. No matter, though. I'll just put you both into the ground before you tell anybody."

The zombie then stomped towards Steel, menacingly sharpening his knives with each other as he does so. Steel raised his fists as he prepared himself for another round with the zombie. However, Joe and a few other of his fellow officers stormed into the building with their weapons raised.

With a metahuman restraining gun pointed at Cyrus Gold, Joe shouted, "Get away from him, you bastard!"

The angry papa bear then pulled the trigger and fired a metahuman dampening collar at Cyrus Gold. However, the zombie managed to react quickly enough to slash the collar in half before it could dampen his powers.

Gold took a brief look at the bewildered Detective West before chuckling to himself. "More pigs to skewer. Lucky day!"

He then threw both his knives at the police officers, one at Joe and the other at the cop next to him.

"No!", Steel shouted as he ran towards the officers to try to shield them with his body. However, he's not a speedster. He won't make it in time. The knives would've raced forward unopposed and skewer the two officers, a tragedy in the making.

Thankfully, a figure moving near the speed of sound crashed through the ceiling like high-caliber bullet. It crashed feet first near the police officers, cracking the floors open and creating a shockwave the drove everything back. The shockwave pushed everyone standing on their backs. The force slammed into the knives, flinging them to the opposite direction and sending them clattering safely into the floor.

After everyone took a moment to work through their small concussions, Cyrus Gold and Citizen Steel stood up with wide eyed surprise as they taken a look at this new interloper.

The figure was none other than Gine herself, who was now decked out in full combat gear with her tail wrapped around her waist. Her new outfit is now made up of a steel breastplate covering over a short-sleeved green shirt along with fingerless metal gauntlets, black cargo pants, and leather boots. Strapped to her thigh was a sheath carrying a special knife, and over her face was a white mask with black streaks across the red lenses over her eyes, which gave Gine the look of a malevolent spirit.

"Who the hell are you?", Gold asked the Saiyan mercenary.

Gine smirked behind her mask. "I'm just the monkey hired to take you down."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now our story has truly begun! But before we leave, here are some notes first.
> 
> After watching Dragon Ball Super: Broly (which I loved), I decided to name drop King Cold and make the Frieza Force the Cold Force in the past segments as I felt that this situation is more appropriate for my story. Besides, this fic's timeline is beginning to stray from canon anyway and that's not mentioning how Gine in the Arrowverse will affect future events.
> 
> But back to the topic of the Cold Force, King Cold didn't retire from the throne when Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta in this timeline. While his children took command of certain divisions within his army with some races answering directly to them, such as the Saiyans to Frieza, both Frieza and Cooler (yes, he's going to show up soon) are under King Cold in authority at this time. That obviously changed in present times, but this power balance is still the case in that point in the timeline.
> 
> Also, I'm not sure if I'll find the opportunity to get this into the story proper, but the super-secret organization that hired Gine and Aya is a relatively new organization created by the president to deal with extra-normal phenomena (ie metahumans, aliens, magic). It's basically Earth-1's version of the DEO, but it will take up another name from the comics. If you hadn't figured it out by now, this is a result of Supergirl suggesting to Earth-1's US president about forming the DEO after the Dominator invasion. This organization's leader is a version of Liberty Belle, AKA Libby Lawrence, from the All-Star Squadron. However, she's going to be a little different from her comics self, and I will be combining her character with aspects of another. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised to see who when she finally shows up.
> 
> As for Gine's robot gal pal, she won't merely be an adaptation of her character into the Arrowverse. Rather, this will be the same Aya that we saw in Green Lantern: The Animated Series. Considering the cartoon's events clash with my vision for the Arrowverse timeline, Aya and her peers will originate from Earth-16 rather than Earth-1. Yes, that means that in my fic's canon, Young Justice and GL:TAS happened in the same universe. Namely, the events of the latter predate the former in Earth-16. When I was younger and watching both shows on Cartoon Network, I always imagined that those two awesome cartoons took place in the same universe because they work so well in my mind. The only real change to that timeline in this fic is that the Interceptor crew took on a Galactus-like Manhunter Prime rather than the Anti-Monitor at the second half of the series as the Arrowverse will be using a multiversal version of that character in their upcoming Crisis on Infinite Earths, which I may or may not cover in the future.
> 
> As for Aya herself, you already saw how much she has grown since the events of the cartoon along with a noticeable change in occupation (although all is not what it seems). You'll see how she survived and even changed soon enough, I assure you. Also because this is a fan fiction, I have to clarify that I'm not shipping Aya and Gine together. Aya is not with Gine romantically nor is she attracted to her. They're just friends. Gine is not in an emotional state that would allow a stable relationship (yet), and Aya is not attracted to women.
> 
> And for any of you interested in the details of present Gine's power level, techniques, and stuff like that, I will be putting off describing that for the next chapter as I want to show off her abilities in a fight first before giving her stats. Also, considering the Flash TV show has referenced Dragon Ball Z before I'll be pretending that they didn't and Dragon Ball doesn't exist in Earth-1. Sad, I know, but that makes things easier for me.
> 
> That should be it for now. I hope you guys liked what you saw, and I would appreciate some support as I begin my run on ao3 (most preferably in the form of constructive criticism). Thanks for the read, and I hope you have a nice day.


	2. T-Minus 41: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kid Flash and Citizen Steel have been defeated, Joe West and his fellow officers are in the line of fire, and Cyrus Gold is closing in for the kill. Can Gine save Central City's heroes in time and defeat this villainous zombie?
> 
> The better question is if there will even be a city left after all this...

Gine was sitting on a bench in her ship's locker room, gearing up for the mission. The Saiyan mercenary currently had her shirt, pants, and boots on, and she was in the process of wrapping her steel gauntlets around her wrists. As she puts on her last gauntlet, Aya spoke to Gine through their ship's speakers.

_"We have arrived at your destination. Your route guidance is now finished."_

Gine let out a chuckle as she moved to one of the other lockers to get her breastplate. "I think that joke implies that I was the one who flew us to this Earth. Make more sense next time, robot."

Aya laughed. _"Someone has to provide the humor around here. You certainly don't contribute to that sphere of our workspace."_

"I have jokes too, thank you," Gine said as she placed the armor around her torso and is in the process of strapping herself in.

_"Trash-talk does not count."_

"It's still humor," Gine retorted as she was finished strapping in her armor.

_"No, humor is the quality of being amusing or comical. Your 'jokes' are often little more than cheap shots at best."_

"It's not my fault that some people can't take a joke," Gine said as she rummaged around her locker for the rest of her gear.

_"That's not the point Gine. You need to be more festive. Smile a little more. Otherwise, you will end up like that Batman imposter with a bow from Earth-1 and no one wants to see that."_

"At least he gets the job done. And from my experience, smiling like a slack-jawed idiot never helped anything," Gine retorted.

_"I'm not saying that you should be grinning and laughing all the time, but you should at least consider the health benefits of smiling at least fifteen percent more often. My research indicates that it will lower your blood pressure, relieve stress, and most importantly, improve your mood."_

"That's funny, because my blood boils and I scream internally every time you talk about it, so it can't be all good. But tell you what, I'll consider it only if you shut up about it until after this mission. Okay?"

_"I suppose I can abide by those parameters. In that case, you should know that I've been tapping into Central City's communications systems, including police dispatch, ever since we arrived. After sifting through thousands of communiques, I discovered that a metahuman fitting Solomon Grundy's description is currently robbing a diamond exchange and is taking hostages."_

"That was easy. It's time to work for that paycheck then."

_"Be sure to mind the hostages, Gine. I would rather we minimize any collateral damage."_

"I'm not an amateur, Aya. I'll keep a look out," Gine replied with a tired tone one gives to a nagging mother. The Saiyan's hand then grabbed a sheathed knife from the back of the locker. The blade resembled a kitchen knife with a single edge and a wide face. The handle was well made with a white ivory-like material and had a noticeable curve for ease in combat.

When Gine unsheathed the knife, she saw its black blade in full. It definitely resembled the kitchen knives of Earth except that the blade was colored jet black. Despite its confused civilian/combat design, however, the knife could possibly be the sharpest blade in the multiverse. At the very least it was the toughest as the blade was forged from Katchin, the strongest metal in Gine's universe.

However, that wasn't what Gine thought about every time she looked at the blade.

First and foremost, it was a wedding gift from her late husband. The only thing that Gine took with her during that fateful day.

* * *

**Before**

It was an hour after noon when everything went wrong.

Gine was at work in the kitchen on the mess hall designated for mid-class warriors. While most low-class Saiyans like Gine weren't permitted to eat at higher level cafeterias, their kitchens were still in need of dedicated cooks to sate the appetites of hundreds of Saiyans. As any profession outside of the military wasn't held in high regard by most Saiyans, most of these cooks are either alien serfs or low-class Saiyans who are deemed too weak for combat. Naturally, Gine was in the latter category after leaving the army.

It was also a particularly chaotic day too. Any given afternoon in the mess often is with many Saiyans eating, drinking, and fighting. Today was even more troublesome than usual as Lord Frieza recently recalled every Saiyan working for him back to the homeworld. The last squads were already in the system, so the mess hall is overcrowded with ravenous and drunk Saiyan warriors. The kitchen staff is both overworked by the additional workload and stressed out due to the increased volume of Saiyans outside the kitchen. Alcohol and natural Saiyan aggression are often an explosive combination, and the more Saiyans you put together in a room, the more likely a fight is going to break out.

This is definitely the worst day she ever had on the job, Gine thought. Considering the average day for the Saiyan woman included taunts, harassment from customers, and the occasional death threat, that says something. It doesn't help that the noise level in the mess has become even more unpleasant to the ears.

Lord Frieza better had a good reason to order all these brutes back to the planet. Otherwise, Gine will... write a strongly worded letter... to herself... as there is no freedom of speech in this empire.

Gine sighed to herself as she was busy boiling a pot of soup. "I need a better outlet," she said under her breath, "Perhaps I should spend a few credits on that erotica mag..."

Suddenly, the door to the kitchen was slammed opened. That got Gine's attention as she and her coworkers stared at this intruder, who was none other than Bardock.

Bardock was currently on his knees. The Saiyan warrior was bruised and bleeding all over. His armor and clothes were badly damaged, and he was wearing a new red headband that vaguely smelled like iron. The man was also very delirious as began to slur incoherent words.

"G-Gine... What, I need to... Gine!", the man said scatterbrained.

"Who let this low-class bum in?!", a Saiyan overseer shouted to his staff. He looked over to the bouncer he hired recently, a rather muscular Zalt-seijin, and told her, "Get this bastard out of here!"

The tall salamander lady walked over to Bardock and forcefully grabbed him by the arm before yanking him up. Fortunately for the wounded Saiyan, his wife rushed to his side and swiped the bouncer's hand away from him.

Gine turned to her pissed off boss and said, "I'm sorry, but he's... a friend of mine. I'll escort him out the back, I promise."

The Saiyan man growled. "Just get him out of my sight!"

"Thank you, sir!", Gine said with a respectful bow before wrapping her husband's arm around her shoulders. Supporting Bardock as they walked, Gine managed to get him to the back door while her coworkers stare at them both.

As Gine and Bardock went out the door, the overseer shouted at them, "What are you waiting for?! The food won't cook itself!"

His shouts woke the cooks right out of their haze as they scrambled to get back to their stations. The overseer looked down to the floor and shook his head. "I swear, this job is gonna be the death of me..."

* * *

The back door led to an alleyway. Gine sat Bardock against the wall as she tended to his injuries with the first aid kit she nabbed on her way out. She removed her husband's headband before proceeding to wash his face with a water bottle.

Gine was currently treating a bruise on Bardock's right temple with an antibiotic wipe and offered him a pill with her other hand. "Take this. It will make you feel better."

"T-Thanks love...", Bardock said shaking before taking the medicine and putting it in his mouth. He washed the pill down with water.

Looking at her beloved with concern, Gine asked, "I didn't even know that you were back by now. Did you get into a fight? What happened?"

Bardock was starting recollect his marbles when he told Gine, "We were attacked on the way here, Gine. We were hit hard."

"Gods... you were ambushed?", Gine said, her voice shaking in concern. "By whom? How's the rest of the guys faring? How..."

"Gine... Gine...", Bardock hushed her panicking wife, "Slow down. I can only answer one question at a time."

"I'm sorry," Gine paused to clean another bruise before continuing, "So what happened to you?"

"Frieza, he... he sent Dodoria and his thugs to kill me," the Saiyan said grimly.

"What?! That doesn't... why would he do that?!", Gine shouted in alarm and stopped what she was doing, "You weren't doing anything treasonous, right?"

"Of course not!", Bardock shouted back out of instinct. The man then remembered how he got to this situation in the first place. He sighed. "Actually... that's not far off."

"Gods Bardock, what did you do?"

Gine's husband looked down sullenly as he began to explain, "Remember that mission in Kanassa from a month ago?"

"The one where you fell into a coma for a few days," Gine murmured as she looked away briefly thinking about that terrible memory, "Yes, I remember..."

"The alien bastard who struck me somehow imparted his psychic abilities to me," Bardock said annoyed as he remembered the week-long headaches that followed after waking up.

"What are you saying?"

Bardock sighed. There was no easy way to say this. "I can see the future."

"Can you... elaborate?", Gine mumbled confused by what her husband just said. Perhaps that blow to the head damaged him more that she thought.

"I know this difficult to believe, but it's true. I've been having... visions all across time. They were difficult to control at first, but eventually they led me to a particular event in the future."

"Go on."

Bardock sighed. "I saw Frieza... that bastard was cackling like a madman as he watched our planet explode."

Gine was taken aback by this. She spoke back hesitantly, "Do you mean..."

"Yeah...", Bardock said with scary certainty, "Frieza has betrayed us. He's is going to destroy our planet and all of us in it."

Gine was at a loss for words. The Saiyan woman took a step back and said, "I... that's just... that doesn't even begin to make any sense! Our people served Lord Frieza loyally for years! He may be a warmongering psychopath, but he wouldn't..."

Bardock stood up. "Keep your voice down! Someone might hear you."

Gine calmed down. "I'm sorry, but... how do you know these visions are true? For all you know, that alien might have just drugged you or something and this is just a side effect."

"I'm aware of that possibility. But have you ever stopped to consider why Frieza recalled every Saiyan back to Planet Vegeta?"

"I'm sure he has a good reason," Gine answered hesitantly, "Like... I don't know. He wants us all to invade another galaxy, or he's giving us a reward for all we done for him, or maybe he wants to marry the prettiest among us. Anything's more likely than getting rid of us for no reason!"

Bardock stepped back and pointed at her. "That reaction right there is why me and my crew started to investigate the Frieza's forces in secret. At first, we were just looking for anything that could validate my visions, but when Frieza ordered all our people back to Planet Vegeta, we knew something was up. So, we made a detour. We bribed an archivist and discovered a recording with the real reason why Frieza gave the order."

"Where is this recording now?"

"Dodoria destroyed it," Bardock answered with an irritated growl in his voice, "Somehow, Frieza knew about our investigation, and he sent his top thug to kill us and destroy the evidence before we could show it to anyone. He... killed them all, Gine... our friends... and that pink monster left me for dead on top of their bodies."

Gine gasped and held her hands over her mouth in shock. She lowered them and asked, "Fasha, Tora... they're all..."

"They're gone," Bardock stated as he suppressed his grief over his fallen comrades, "Frieza sent his men to kill us so that our people won't be warned of his betrayal. I know don't have any proof, but I do have my word. You gotta believe me, Gine."

Tears started form in her eyes as panic began to set within Gine. She can't believe that this was happening. She didn't want to believe that something so horrible could happen to her or her people, but Bardock would never lie to her about something like this. If her husband said that Frieza tried to have him killed to prevent him from spreading word about his betrayal, then she believed him. That, and the fact that Bardock showed up to her place of work badly wounded is compelling enough evidence for the Saiyan woman.

However, this confirmation by no means gave Gine any comfort about the situation.

Gine began to hyperventilate as her head began to spin. "Oh gods... oh gods... oh gods..."

"Gine..."

"This can't be happening... this can't be happening!", Gine said as she spiraled into hysteria, "What are we going to do, Bardock? How are we gonna..."

"Gine!", Bardock shouted as he grabbed his wife's shoulders. With a more calming tone, Bardock told Gine, "Get ahold of yourself! It's going to be alright."

"How could you say that?!", Gine said shrieking, "Frieza is going to blow us all up at any moment, and there's nothing we could do about it!"

"I know, but... I have a plan," Bardock said trying to sound as confident as possible to his scared wife.

"You do?", Gine murmured as she tried to stuff back a tear.

"I'll make sure that Frieza won't get away with this, but we have to survive first," he explained calmly.

"Survive? You mean escape the planet?", Gine asked to which Bardock answered with a nod, "How do we... What about Raditz? Shouldn't we look for him first?"

"Raditz is still off-world with Prince Vegeta. I checked. They must be having communication problems or something."

"Shouldn't we warn others, then? If Frieza's going to destroy the planet, people ought know about it."

Bardock shook his head dismissively. "No one's gonna believe a conspiracy theory from a couple of low-class Saiyans without any evidence. At best, we'll get laughed off. At worst, we'd be executed for treason. And frankly, there's no one else on this planet that I'd risk sticking my neck out for. We need to think about ourselves, Gine."

Gine hung her head in shame. Although she was treated like dirt by her people for most of her life, Gine was still proud to be a Saiyan. In her heart, she knew that Bardock was right about the futility of trying to warn the rest of her people. Even if they did believe them, Frieza just might destroy the planet sooner if he so much as thought that the Saiyans were on to him. Whether she liked it or not, Planet Vegeta was doomed. By the end of this, the Saiyans will be an endangered species, and that thought unnerved Gine greatly.

But like Bardock said, they really didn't have a choice in the matter. It was either escape or die, and Gine needed to survive for her children's sake as they were still out amongst the stars.

"What's the plan?", Gine asked eyeing her husband reluctantly.

Bardock let go of his wife and explained, "We need to steal a pod from one of the hangars in the city. They're going to be well-guarded, so we'll have to move quickly and quietly if we are to escape before Frieza blows up the planet."

"But there are riots all over the street ever since the warriors returned," Gine pointed out, "How can we get there in time?"

"We'll just have to try to avoid the bigger crowds and fight anyone who gets in our way," Bardock the got out a sheathed knife from his belt, "You might need this."

Gine looked at her knife. Bardock must have looked for her in their home first and grabbed it before coming here. Her hand moved to take the knife, but the Saiyan woman flinched when her fingers were an inch away from the blade. Gine was never really good at fighting, and she disliked the idea of having to take a life. However, this was a life or death situation.

Gine mustered up whatever courage she had and grabbed the knife from her husband's hand.

Bardock held her hand and said, "Follow me, and stick close, okay?"

Gine nodded with fear still tingling down her spine as her husband led them out of the alley and into the wild and chaotic streets.

* * *

**Now**

Sometimes, Gine couldn't believe that she was ever that person. So innocent... and weak.

It made her sick to her stomach to think that she was ever that naive enough to think that she could ever get by in life without having to fight for herself, and that weakness was what got Bardock killed. When she realized this, Gine swore to herself that she would never become a victim ever again.

She wanted to bury the woman she was in the past where it belongs. So far, that attitude worked out well for Gine... for the most part.

While Gine was busy stewing in her thoughts and memories, she didn't take notice of the robotic voice nagging her in the periphery of her hearing. _"Gine? Gine! My dear, this is concerning. Are you having another flashback? Should I call your therapist?"_

"What therapist?", Gine remarked before sheathing her knife and strapping it to her pants.

_"The therapist we discussed about last week? The one that we both agreed to schedule an appointment with? The one you keep avoiding? That therapist."_

"Well, we've been plenty busy this week with all the bounties and jobs we've been doing. Besides, I have better things to do than talk about my feelings with some pampered quack."

_"I suppose you're right. It's not like you have an ulterior motive to accept more missions just as I was scheduling a session,"_  Aya spoke sarcastically.

Gine shook her head dismissively and asked, "Where are we with the Grundy situation?"

_"You know, I researched that deflecting a topic is often a sign of mental uncertainty."_

"And I researched that we are hired to hunt down a psychotic meta zombie. When can we get to that?"

_"In that case, I should inform you that I was tailing a most curious sight."_

"Go on."

_"It was a speedster, specifically the Kid Flash of Earth-1. Considering fighting metahuman criminals is his MO, I followed him closely, cloaked of course, to where we were heading of all places. Based on a visual scan, it seems that he and his compatriot, the Citizen Steel of Earth-1, are currently engaging Solomon Grundy."_

"Is this going to affect our bottom line?", Gine questioned her AI.

_"Based on a live feed of their fight, it seems that are heroes have just evacuated the hostages for us and they seem to subduing Grundy... never mind. It seems that the tide of battle has turned. Solomon Grundy is currently exhibiting a combat proficiency that is not consistent with the information we have on him. He seems to possess reflexes quick enough to keep up with a speedster."_

"Intriguing...", Gine muttered to herself before grabbing her mask and making her way towards a nearby airlock. She put on her scary white mask then opened the airlock. As the Interceptor was high in the sky, a surge of air was sucked through the formerly pressurized space.

_"Kid Flash has just been stabbed in the abdomen!",_  Aya screamed to get through the sound of rapid air.

"How's that my problem? He's a speedster! He'll be fine!"

_"That's the least of my worries! With how the battle is proceeding so far, I calculate only a 13.4 percent chance that they would actually succeed and only a 45.4 percent chance that would even survive this!"_

Gine sighed and replied, "Look, I'll see what I can do for those two! If they get themselves killed, that's their problem!"

_"And the cops?"_

Gine sighed even more agitated, "I'll look out for them too, I guess!"

_"Fair enough! Should I join you?! I could assemble my mobile platform in..."_

"It's just one oversized zombie! I can take him! Just watch my back from up here!"

_"Aye, Aye!"_

"Well then...", Gine whispered to herself before taking a breath and diving down to the skies below. After the initial flight from the ship, Gine stilled her ki and allowed herself free fall through the clouds to build up momentum.

As the winds whipped across Gine's body, the comm-link in her ear began to ring in Aya's voice.  _"CCPD has just entered the building with weapons hot. The situation is escalating, Gine. The probability for disaster is..."_

"Not very good! I get it!", Gine shrugged off before whispering to herself, "No one else is going to die because of me..."

_"Aw, you do care!"_

"That's supposed to be private Aya!"

The AI laughed amusingly. _"Shall I ping his location to your mask's HUD?"_

"No need!", Gine yelled before closing her eyes and using her ki sensing technique to sense the life force of Solomon Grundy.

Through this ability, Gine can feel the life forces, or ki, of almost all the city's inhabitants. Through practice and conditioning, Gine managed to hone this technique to the point where she could detect a specific person just by their unique ki signatures. However, due to Grundy's undead nature it was actually impossible to detect his ki signature as he is technically not truly alive. As a result, beings like him are "invisible" to this technique.

But that complication could never slow down an experienced mercenary like Gine.

The Saiyan did the next best thing. As an interdimensional mercenary, Gine has much experience with various doppelgangers across the known multiverse. She's just so happened to have met versions of Kid Flash and Citizen Steel before, so all the Saiyan had to do was hone in on their specific ki signatures. Sure enough, Gine managed to sort through the millions of life forces in Central City to find the two people she knows is at Grundy's location.

"Gotcha."

Adjusting her orientation and trajectory towards the mental target she established, Gine opened her eyes and accelerated her dive by using her ki to drape herself in a blazing blue aura. This boost in speed managed to help Gine get within inches from the roof in nine seconds. By the tenth second, the mercenary managed to use both her superhuman strength and her momentum to crash through solid concrete and make her grand entrance.

Taking a quick scan around the area, Gine could see that the Grundy situation is already a complete mess. She could see Kid Flash bleeding out in the corner, Grundy throwing two of his knives at the very squishy human cops, and Steel ineffectually trying to intercept the speeding blades with his slow metal body.

"Time to show these humans how it's done," the Saiyan thought before she channeled her ki into her feet. When Gine was only a few feet away from the ground, she quickly shifted from a head-first dive to a more upright position. Thanks to her superhuman strength, Gine managed to land on her feet with the only real damage being to the tiled floor she just cracked open. However, Gine also released the ki she stored up the moment her feet impacted the floor.

This release of energy manifested in a kiai, a concussive wave that shot out in every direction like an explosion. As Gine performed a textbook superhero landing, her kiai managed to forcefully push everything in the building back, including the people. The cops were knocked off their feet and slid across the floor on their backs. Both Steel and Grundy, despite their immense strength, tripped on themselves as the concussive force was great enough to throw the two titans off balance. Most important of all, however, was that the kiai managed to knock the throwing knives Grundy threw off course and scatter safely into the floor.

With all eyes on her, Gine stood up straight and cracked her knuckles in preparation for the upcoming fight. Grundy looked at her with unusual intelligence in his eyes as he spoke, "Who the hell are you?"

Gine smirked smugly behind her mask as she answered, "I'm just the monkey hired to take you down."

_"Well said. Very 'badass',"_  Aya spoke with an encouraging tone.

Gine's brief smile disappeared as she whispered irritably into her communicator, "Quiet Aya! I'm in the zone."

_"Sorry!"_

Steel walked over to Detective West and the other officers while supporting a limping Kid Flash over his shoulder. Nate asked Joe, "You have any idea who she is?"

Joe shook his head as he stared at this masked individual, "I'm about as lost as you are."

"You, ugh, think she's on our side?", Wally asked, wincing in pain.

"She better. We're equipped to deal with one super strong meta, not two."

"Whoever she is, you think she's single?", Nate asked absentmindedly as he 'observed' Gine's figure. Joe and Wally glared at the former Legend with a look that can only be described with the look that can only be described with the word, 'Seriously?'. Nate noticed the two's disapproval and asked, "What?"

Meanwhile, Solomon Grundy, still in the persona of Cyrus Gold, eyed up his new opponent and scoffed. "Hired, eh? Who, pray tell, did I piss off this time? Let me guess. Black Mask? Tobias Whale? Or perhaps that crazy old bat from my Earth. What was his name again? Thomas?"

Gine shook her head. "Just someone who has questions for you."

"So you want to take me in?", Gold said with a dismissive smile, "And how are you gonna do that?"

Gine cracked her knuckles and tensed up. "By beating you into pulp!"

The Saiyan suddenly flew at the hulking zombie, tackling him with superhuman force before flying through the roof and smashing another hole into it. As Gine took their perp with her, Joe looked over to the rest of his fellow officers, "Try to follow them as best you can. We don't wanna lose them."

The officers nodded as they rushed outside to get to their squad cars. Joe looked over to Kid Flash and Steel. He looked at the gaping wound in his son's gut with concern lighting his eyes. "Do you think you can make it to STAR Labs from here?"

Nate shook his head. "It's over ten blocks away, and Wally's not in the best shape to move. I think it's best if he rests up here and let his healing factor do the rest."

Joe nodded shakily. "Yeah, I, uh, think that's for the best."

Kid Flash looked over to Joe, slightly lowering his head in shame. "Dad..."

Joe patted his son in the shoulder. "You did good here, Wally. Just rest here for now. We'll take it from here."

Wally sighed as he stared at the ground. The young hero scolded himself internally for getting into this position in the first place. Barry trusted him to take over as the Flash for him, but then he almost getting himself killed by the freak of the week. Barry would've done it better, he thought. It was another reminder to Wally that he is not yet the hero that this city deserved. All that Wally could do now was to reassure his distressed father with a nod and hope that he could do better next time.

Joe nodded back as he ran over to join his fellow officers.

Nate walked over slowly with Wally to nearby pillar with the intention of having his wounded friend rest on it for a while until his wound closes. "Don't worry buddy. You'll be back on your feet in no time."

Wally sighed. "I know."

* * *

Gine soared high into the air taking Gold with her, who was disoriented by the initial force of the Saiyan's strike. However, the zombie eventually regained his bearings as looked around confused by his current surroundings before looking down on Gine's torso. With rage flaring in his crimson eyes, Gold clenched both her fists above Gine's body before slamming them down on her back with inhuman force.

Although her durable Saiyan physiology prevented her spine from being broken, the force caused Gine to grunt in pain as she was forced to let go of her target and plummet into the city below, quickly reaching terminal velocity with the wind whiplashing her body after the blow. Without Gine holding him, Cyrus Gold began falling towards the city as well. Due to his immense mass, Gold was able to fall fast enough to catch up with the Gine and slam his massive fist against her chest. The punch caused Gine to crumple wildly into the air as she was propelled even faster into the ground.

Gine growled under her breath as she glared at the cackling Cyrus Gold. "Okay, that's it!"

As Gold raised both his fists to slam at Gine once again, the Saiyan used her ki flight technique to suspend herself in midair. The mercenary then channeled her ki into the palm of her hand, forming a bright blue ball of energy on it. The Saiyan then darted towards the descending brute as she arched that hand back to wind up her attack- a technique of Gine's known as Tyrant Lancer. Gold's mad grin disappeared as the Saiyan weaved around his massive fists and swung her palm right under his elbows. When the ki ball impacted his chest, it exploded into a chaotic burst of blue energy, consuming Gold's hulking body in a bright light before he was violently launched over the city in an arc of smoke.

Not relenting for even a second, Gine sped towards the screaming Cyrus Gold at supersonic speeds. Once Gine was within a few feet of the metahuman zombie, the Saiyan mercenary accelerated so fast that she seemed to have disappeared in a blink to the naked eye only to reappear right above Gold with her back turned. She then swiftly twirled around and impacted the back of her fist into Gold's head, twisting his body around as he was propelled into the streets below.

Before he could crash into the asphalt, however, Gine formed another ball of blue energy into her palm. The Saiyan performed another one of her techniques, the Spirit Javelin, and threw the ball of ki towards Cyrus Gold. The volatile energy ball crashed into the zombie's stomach, and once there, Gine stopped herself and closed her eyes.

The Saiyan then turned her focus towards the Spirit Javelin she launched. Using her finely honed control over her ki, Gine directed her energy attack to swerve Gold over the streets, scaring civilians and shaking cars as his body passed them. With a primal yell, Gine pushed her palm forward and directed her Spirit Javelin to propel Gold towards the hills outside the city to avoid any civilians. The Spirit Javelin crashed Grundy into one of the windmills in that area before detonating into a massive fiery cloud. The force of this explosion managed to rip several nearby windmills off the ground as they all scattered into the hills, creating deep furrows of dirt into the formerly scenic landscape.

Gine flew over to the scene and hovered above the ruined windmill field. When the smoke cleared, Gine saw a massive crater in the middle of the field. The dirt beneath her was charred with a few red hot embers throughout, and all the windmills in and near the crater were toppled with various levels of damage.

_"That was... excessive,"_  Aya told her friend with unease in her voice. As the Interceptor flew behind Gine, Aya continued,  _"Was that level of force truly necessary?"_

Gine shrugged. "No one got hurt."

_"Grundy might beg to differ."_

"If he's as resilient as you say, Grundy should be able to take a blast like that."

_"How do you know?"_

Gine pointed at the crater. "Because that windmill over there is moving on it's own."

Back on the crater, Gold lifted said windmill over his head. With an enraged scowl over his face, the zombie held the entire windmill high before tossing the machine over several feet with a booming roar.

A thin veil of steam was now emanating from Gold's scorched skin. His clothes were burnt and in tatters, particularly his shirt, which was reduced into a few strips of cloth draping his muscular torso. Shouting in frustration, Gold ripped away the remnants of his shirt, leaving his torso bare. To add to his displeasure, Gold looked behind his back to see that all but two of his knives were lost in that explosion.

That fact hurt the former mobster the most.

Not able to hold in all of his burning hatred anymore, Cyrus Gold let out a primal roar loud enough to echo to the city below. "GET DOWN HERE! YOU COWARDLY BITCH! I'LL RIP YOU IN HALF!"

Gine let out a small laugh. "Looks like he's losing it."

Aya, being the more level-headed of the two, voiced her concerns. _"I detect a 2.13 percent increase in muscle mass. His adrenal glands must have also been mutated from the Particle Accelerator Explosion. He's gotten stronger. Perhaps it's best if you let me use the ship's weapon systems to..."_

"Negative," Gine told her with a firm voice, "I'm going to finish this fight."

_"I am seriously against that course of action. We don't completely understand his powers or how strong he could be. I think it would better if we..."_

"I've faced bigger, Aya," Gine countered, "I can handle him. Just standby and ready a holding cell when I'm done."

_"I can't talk you out this, can I?"_

"I'm a Saiyan and there's a fight waiting for me below. What do you think?"

Aya sighed. As she doesn't breathe, it's more of a symbolic mood indicator than anything else. _"Just be careful."_

"Copy that," Gine responded before floating down from the sky. She landed on the same, smoking crater as Gold a few seconds later. When her eyes met the zombie's own crimson irises, she taunted, "I'm guessing from that temper tantrum that you're not yet done with your beatdown. Am I right?"

Gold exhaled furiously. "I wouldn't mock, lady! I'm gonna kill you! How slow you want to go depends on how much you piss me off."

"If you say so. But if you don't mind my asking, how come you're speaking so good? My intel told me that you're just another unthinking brute."

"Your intel, eh? Shows what you know. You must be thinking of my idiot roommate, Grundy. Me, on the other hand, I'm the most dangerous bastard on two Earths! I've got moves like you've never seen!"

"That so?", Gine asked her curiosity piqued. She then raised both her fists. "You wanna back up that claim, or are you just a rotting bag of hot air?"

Gold responded by ripping his remaining knives off his back. With a pained scream, the zombie lifted one of them in the air before he threw it at Gine. Before it came close to Gine, however, another knife, a black one, sliced through the blade, cutting through the softer metal and left it clattering into the floor in pieces before flying past the undead brute.

Gold's eyes widened as he gasped, "What the hell?!"

"I don't mean to sound crude, but mine's bigger," Gine joked. Gold growled as he raised his other hand to throw his last knife. However, before he could go through the motions, his wrist was struck behind by Gine's knife.

"GAAAHH!", Gold screamed as the pain forced him to drop his knife. As he was clutching his injured arm, Gold noticed that the knife that Gine was halfway into his flesh, spilling his rotting black blood all over his wrist. The former mobster shuddered as he realized that his supposedly impenetrable flesh has been pierced easily by this black blade. "That's... that's impossible!"

No respite for the wicked, however, as Gine flew in while her opponent was distracted. She planted her fist into Gold's gut. As the zombie let out a pained gasp, Gine swung her fist upward to uppercut her opponent in the chin, lifting him off his feet and sending him to the air. Gine tried to continue her momentum by flying at Gold with her fist raised, however, the zombie managed to shake out of his pained haze through sheer hatred.

He managed to catch Gine's shoulders in midair with his giant hands, restraining her before slamming his head against her mask. With his enemy disoriented, Gold flipped around to drop both himself and Gine into the ground. Gold slammed Gine into the charred earth, spraying burnt dirt everywhere. With the Saiyan trapped under the hulking zombie, Gold laughed maliciously as he began to pound Gine with his fists.

Although the Saiyan warrior was made bloody and bruised after each brutal punch, Gine never lost her focus. Even though Gold's weight bearing down on her prevented Gine from getting back up, her arms and upper torso was free to move around now that Gold had let go of her. She also noticed that her knife was still embedded into the metahuman's bleeding wrist. Thanks to the training ingrained in both her mind and her muscles, Gine knew exactly what to do to regain the upper hand. All that she needed now is to remember the experiences that made her the way she is and channel the anger she keeps in her heart. Inhaling deeply, Gine's mind focused on the person she hated the most.

Even as Gine began her deep breaths, Gold continued to mercilessly punch her in the face, cracking her mask.

Gold continued to laugh. "You're one tough punching bag, I'll give you that! But you'll break! They always..."

Gold's last punch was interrupted when Gine swerved her head suddenly to avoid the zombie's fist. With his stabbed arm down, Gine locked one of her arms around Cyrus Gold's fist before he could react. Using her free hand, Gine quickly grabbed her knife, twisting it free from the zombie's oozing flesh, and ripping the blade out of his arm.

"GRRAAAHH!", Gold screamed as he arched out his back and grabbed pained wrist, which was spraying black blood everywhere. Now that her weapon is back in her hands, Gine thrusted her knife into Gold's side, piercing his tough ribs with ease. "You bitch!", he cursed as the zombie got up and hastily backed away from his enemy with the knife slowly sliding off his ribs.

As Gine got back up and sheathed her knife, she glared daggers at the wounded Gold as he nursed his bloody side with his bloody arm.

"I don't break!", Gine snarled back at him.

She then let out a monstrous roar as her entire body tensed up and a burning blue aura shined around the proud Saiyan warrior. This light actually managed to blind Cyrus Gold as he lifted his other hand to protect his eyes. "What the hell is this?! Who are you?!"

"I am a Saiyan!", the mercenary yelled before darting towards Cyrus Gold like a blazing blue meteor at twice the speed of sound. Gine then crashed into the undead brute, caving in half of his ribs, before being being buried into the crater. The bright blue bullet then shot out of the windmill fields and flying across the skies back into the city.

Gine dragged Gold through the upper level of a skyscraper, carving a trail of carnage and scaring the passersby before the blue meteor began to descend into the streets below. They eventually landed in the middle of a college football field, kicking up dirt and artificial grass as they crashed. The football team that was practicing in it fled immediately as Gine stood up and lifted Gold up by the neck.

"And you are nothing," Gine spat before punching Gold in the face, launching him towards the end of the field next to the goalpost.

After tumbling over the grassy field, Cyrus Gold groaned and pushed himself back up, kneeling at first as he felt something wet running down his cheek. The brute swiped his thumb over it, and he saw that his enemy drew blood with merely her fists. Continually frustrated that some woman managed to give him so much grief, Gold turned to Gine hatefully before breaking into a sprint towards her. With labored breath and foam dripping from his mouth, the zombie ran at speeds faster than an Olympic athlete as he charged towards his enemy with the single-minded intent of ripping the upstart apart with his bare hands.

Suddenly, however, Gine went from standing perfectly still to flying towards her opponent at speeds ten times faster than a military jet, cracking the air around her as the blue meteor created a massive sonic boom. To Gine, Gold may as well be moving in slow motion as she managed to close the distance between herself and him in one second. One half-second later, Gine planted her feet on the ground and channeled some of her ki into her fist, charging it with a bright blue glow.

Gine gritted her teeth and drove her glowing fist downward to one of Gold's knees. The force of this punch was so great that it bent the incredibly durable knee in a direction that it's not suppose to. The fist actually shaped the zombie's leg almost into a C shape.

"GOD! OH GOD NO!", Gold screamed pitifully as he limped back with his one good leg before just tipping over into his back. The wounded brute crawled into a fetal position as he clutched his mangled and nonfunctional leg. The former mobster was about to reach out and try to bending his knee back into its right shape, but then Gine picked him back up by the neck.

Gine exhaled, venting the anger she was hiding before screaming, "RAAAHH!"

She headbutted Gold so hard that her mask snapped in two. The fragments of the ruined mask slipped off Gine's face as Gold laid down with his eyes glazed over in disorientation and turning into their original silver color, reverting the zombie back into his more simple-minded Solomon Grundy persona.

Even with her target helpless on the ground, Gine glared at him with pure hatred as she knelt next to Grundy and began furiously beating his face in with her fists as Cyrus Gold did to her before. Each punch impacted against Grundy's face harder than the last, taxing his superhuman hide as his bruises grew more bloodier and his eyes began to turn black. The zombie's teeth began to splinter and his mouth ooze blood.

A blood red haze covered Gine's eyes as she vented her rage into the villain's face. She could feel his bones cracking under her knuckles, feel her hands wet with his blood... and her own.

On a primal level, Gine was excited by this violence, but this was by no means her first time. Whenever she allowed this rage to overtake her like this, Gine could just forget everything that she's been through. Bardock's death, the destruction of her home, all the horrible things that happened afterward- they were all swept away as Gine channeled that rage into a unthinking stream of power.

And this power made Gine feel whole again.

Gine felt that she had this zombie's pitiful life in her hands, and it felt great! The Saiyan woman went through her entire life under the mercy of men like Cyrus Gold, so why shouldn't she take some that power for herself?

After everything she's been through, that pleasure was her right!

Gine continued to beat in Grundy's face for another minute or two. If it wasn't for the zombie's superhuman strength, Grundy would've been dead by now with his face flattened and reduced to mush. But even then, Grundy couldn't survive Gine's beatdown for much longer as his face grew black with blood and inflamed with swelling.

After the twentieth or twenty-first punch, Gine raised her fist and charged it blue with ki, ready to deliver the killing blow and splatter Grundy's brains all over the grass. As Gine was bringing her fist down, however, a pair of slender hands gripped her arm, stopping the Saiyan from killing the villain. The rage-filled Gine looked back to see that it was Aya, in her human form, who was stopping her.

Aya looked deep into her friend's eyes with an air of concern behind her firm expression. Her big blue eyes pierced into Gine's soul as the AI simply pleaded, "Don't. You're better than this, Gine."

Looking back into her friend's eyes, the rage within Gine began to subside as the Saiyan calmed herself down with deep breaths. Aya let go of Gine as she stood back up and looked down to see what her blind rage had wrought.

The wounded zombie gasped and heaved as pain wracked his entire body. Tears began running down Grundy's cheeks, mixing with the blood on his face. "Stop... stop... don't hurt Grundy no more... Grundy will be good... Grundy promise... stop hurting Grundy... please..."

Shame replaced the anger within Gine as she heard the broken villain's pleas. The Saiyan looked down to her hands to see that they were stained with Grundy's black blood, a visible marker for her guilt.

There was a time in Gine's life where she thought that doing these kinds of actions were unthinkable, but that was a long time ago. The things that the Saiyan had seen, the things that she was forced to do in order to survive changed her. Made her cold inside. Turned her into someone she doesn't even recognize anymore. Gine didn't want to admit it, but she has became just another Saiyan thug, a stereotype that she used to hate when she was younger.

"Gine, don't... don't beat yourself up over this. Let's just go, alright? Our mission is finished," Aya spoke softly as she held on to her friend's shoulders.

Still shaking, Gine simply responded with a nod as she performed some breathing exercises. Aya took a step back and began to fly into the air. As the  _Interceptor_ uncloaked behind her, Aya stretched out her palm to project a ray of green light at Solomon Grundy, a tractor beam. The ship then opened its entrance hatch to allow Aya to fly into it with the prisoner. Gine took a little longer to go back, however. She needed a moment to compose herself.

"Get it together, Gine," she spoke harshly, "You've done worse than this! Don't fall apart now!"

Gine nearly began to hyperventilate as she tried to calm herself down. After a couple deep breaths, however, Gine quickly managed to center herself. She stilled her shaking and replaced her nervous expression by suppressing all her feelings, putting it into a box, shoving it into a deep well of shame, and locking it away. With that, all emotion exited Gine's face, her rough facade restored.

After exhaling one last time, Gine flew after Aya and entered her ship. The  _Interceptor_ closed its entrance hatch before flying towards the skies and disappearing into the clouds as it reactivated its cloaking device.

The mission, barring a few hiccups, was a success. Grundy was now on his way to be presented to Director Lawrence, wrapped up in a bow like a Christmas gift. Unbeknownst to the Saiyan, however, a few of CCPD's finest managed to arrive at the stadium's entrance but too late to stop Gine and Aya from taking Grundy from them. Led by Detective Joe West, the cops raced toward the center of the field to keep track of the invisible aircraft that is now making a visible trail through the clouds.

The officers in attendance had their mouths held wide opened, gasping at the sight that they had just witnessed. Even in a city filled with fantastic metahumans, two aliens abducting a zombie before flying off in their invisible plane was something new to most of the cops in the department.

Well... maybe not the alien bit.

One of the cops removed his sunglasses as he took in the view. He asked Joe, "Are we being invaded again?"

Joe sighed. By now, he knew when something big is about to go down. With Barry gone, Joe knew that this was going to be a rough one this time. He looked over to his fellow officer and answered, "I really hope not. It's not even fall yet."

* * *

In the  _Interceptor,_ Gine and Aya had just threw Solomon Grundy into one of their holding cells in the ship's brig, its lowest level. While this setup is a far cry from the more proper prisons in the larger universe, the brig allows the two mercenaries space to contain their captures until they could be transported to their clients. To aid in that purpose, these cells are equipped with power dampeners and are built strong enough to contain a Kryptonian.

After Aya had summoned some medical probes to sedate Grundy and attend to his injuries, Gine had walked off to the elevator and silently took the lift up to the main deck. Exiting the elevator, Gine removed the armor from her body and lazily dropping them to the floor before heading to the showers. After spending a few minutes to clean herself, the Saiyan walked out of the bathroom with just a green shirt and black shorts. However, she let out a big yawn as her eyelids were beginning to sag.

Gine was exhausted. Barring that short nap on the bar, the Saiyan hadn't properly slept for over twenty hours now. She was just that busy from all the contracts she had accepted this week. Even though Gine is almost invulnerable, she is not immune to the ravages of fatigue once the adrenaline wore off. That, and she had a lot on her troubled mind at the moment and would much rather sleep it off.

To that end, the Saiyan walked over to her ship's living room before taking a lazy drop into her couch. As Gine laid her body across the couch and rested her head on the arm cushion, Aya came to her in the form of one of her eye probes and told her,  _"You seem very injured from your last battle. We should perform a check-up this instant."_

The Saiyan groaned. Gine was so tired that she barely had enough energy to open her eyes, so taking a nap was more important in her mind. "Don't bust your circuits over me. I'm fine," Aya ignored her friend's request and performed a medical scan across her body, briefly shining a green light into Gine's eyes, "You're not my mom, Aya."

_"After all the times you stupidly risked your life, I may as well be!",_ the AI scolded,  _"You're currently experiencing a mild concussion. There are a few bone fractures and contusions, but nothing that rest or medicine can't fix."_

"In that case...", Gine flipped her body to the side, disrupting Aya's scans. She closed her eyes and grumbled, "Let me get to it."

Aya sighed.  _"You're not invincible, Gine. If you allowed me to subdue Grundy with the ship's weapons, you could have been spared that beating. Your Saiyan physiology may be strong, but soon enough, your body won't be able to handle the intense punishment and stress you subject it to on a daily basis. You could get seriously injured or worse."_

"I'm a Saiyan. If I'm not fighting, then I'm not living up to my full potential. I am a warrior to the genetic level. It's just what I am. It's what I'm supposed to be. There's no changing that."

_"It's not about genetics, Gine! It's about you receiving these injuries on every mission even when you don't have to! You're starting to worry me."_

"Don't," Gine said yawning, "I'm not another low-class weakling who breaks like a twig at the slightest pressure. I'm a survivor. I can handle anything."

Aya was silent for a moment.  _"You know, self-aggrandizing and bravado was never a good look on you. You could never pull it off right. Something's bothering you. I can tell. Do you want to talk about it? You've been through a lot today."_

Gine shut her eyes tighter as she responded, "Nothing fazes me anymore. I just need a nap."

Aya's eye probe lingered in Gine for a while before looking down and flying away.  _"You can tell me anything. You know that, right?"_

Gine remained silent. She pretended to have fallen asleep for a few minutes to fool Aya. The AI saw through this act fairly easily, but she knew by now that she can't get anything out of Gine if she didn't want to.

_"Good night, my friend."_

"Good night...", Gine said under her breath as she slowly allowed her drowsiness to overcome her.

In truth, Gine never had a good night's sleep in a long time. No matter how much she rested, the pain of Bardock's death will always be there in her broken heart for the rest of her life. That loss and the death of her oldest child will remind Gine of all her most painful moments. It will weigh her down with regret and thoughts of what could have been, and it will always remind the Saiyan of her failures and the flaws of her character.

"I wish I could just tell her," Gine thought to herself, "I wish I could tell Aya that Bardock's death made me feel empty inside, and that it's getting worse every day he isn't with me. I wish I could tell her that I'm scared that I might love again or that I hate myself for using my grief as an excuse to hurt others, but I can't. I'm a coward, and that's why I deserve this pain."

Aya hoped that she could help Gine relieve herself of these burdens one day, but the Saiyan knew better.

No matter how much she grew stronger physically, Gine will always remain that weakling who got her husband killed.

* * *

**Before**

After navigating through the chaotic streets of Planet Vegeta's capital city, Gine and Bardock managed to sneak into the eastern quarter's spaceport through a back entrance. After Bardock knocked out the guard in front of door (Gine made sure that he was laying down comfortably), the two Saiyans managed to sneak through this secure facility, avoiding other guards and cameras as they entered the pod launch bay.

Gine closed the door behind her, and Bardock rushed towards a nearby computer in an office. As his wife was playing the lookout, Bardock searched through the computer's files to see that all of the pods are currently locked down as per Frieza's orders.

Bardock smashed a chunk out of the desk as he cursed, "Damn it!"

Gine noticed her husband's distress. She placed her sheathed knife in her skirt pocket before the Saiyan woman ran to his side. She asked him, "What's wrong?"

"They shut off all the pods!", Bardock reacted frustrated, "The lockdown protocol is not letting me release any of them!"

"Here, let me try," Gine said as she politely pushed Bardock out of the way. After playing with the keyboard for a few moments, the red 'accessed denied' screen quickly blinked green as mechanical grinding sounded throughout the room. A few seconds later, two pods were loaded and ready to launch in the central chamber.

Bardock looked at her puzzled. "How did you do that?"

Gine shrugged sheepishly. "I take a few side-jobs for a smuggler friend every now and again. He taught me a few general hacking tricks."

"Lucky us," he deadpanned.

The two then walked towards the opened pods. Gine dusted off the seat of her pod as she looked back at her husband. "We should launch before anyone...", Gine then noticed the grim look on her husband's face. The only other time she ever saw him like that was when he was about to fight a losing battle. "Why are looking at me like that?"

Bardock sighed. "I'm not coming, Gine."

Confused, Gine asked, "Did you hit your head on the way here? In case you forgot, Frieza is going to destroy this planet!"

"I haven't forgotten," Bardock responded with frightening seriousness, "That's why I can't leave. I won't let that bastard get away with it."

A chill ran down the Saiyan woman's spine. Her throat was starting to feel dry as she said, "I don't understand."

"I never planned to go on the run, Gine. That's not my way. I only did all this for you."

"What are you saying?"

Bardock closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm staying. I'm going to fly up to Frieza's ship, and I'm gonna make him pay for betraying us. I want you to leave with the pod. Go to Kakarot. Run as far as you can from all of this."

Gine was shaken. She slowly walked towards her husband, saying, "You can't be serious. Frieza is the most powerful being in the universe! He has an entire army at his beck and call! You can't take him on alone, you'll die!"

"Then I'll die," Bardock responded somberly, "There are worse ways to go than dying in battle."

Gine couldn't hold it in anymore. She wrapped her arms around her husband's shoulders as she looked at him with begging eyes. Tears began running down her cheek as she told him, "Please... please don't do this to me. You don't have to throw your life away. We can leave all of this behind. Run away together. Please... we're not a family without you!"

Bardock wrapped one of his arms around her waist. The man wiped away one of her tears with his free thumb. "Even if I wanted to, Frieza's army would be able to detect a couple of pods escaping the planet. They'll shoot us down, Gine. This way, at least I would be able to distract them long enough for you to escape."

Gine began to huff uncontrollably. Tears streamed across her face as shook her head. "No... no... no... I can't accept this! I won't run away so that you could die for me! My life is not worth living without you..."

"This isn't a debate," Bardock said as firmly and calmly as he could, "I need you to live, Gine. If nothing else, do it for our sons. They need their mother. You're the only one who could do this."

"I'm not strong enough without you... I rather die...", Gine sobbed as she buried her face in her husband's chest. "Please... don't make me leave..."

Bardock could barely contain his own tears as he embraced his wife. He whispered into her ear, "Okay. Okay," Bardock then grabbed a syringe from his pocket and he stabbed it into his wife's shoulder before injecting Gine with a powerful sedative, "I'm sorry."

Gine tried to fight the drowsiness that overcame her body as Bardock carried her to the pod. She tried her best to keep her eyelids from closing as Bardock sat her down the pilot seat. "Bardock...", she whimpered, "Don't... please..."

Bardock took a moment to stare into his wife's watering eyes. Her eyes have always looked very beautiful to Bardock, so innocent. He could always see the things that no other Saiyan would ever show, soft things like compassion, empathy, and love. So much love that it made the Saiyan warrior want to vomit sometimes. But no matter how much Gine's weaknesses annoyed him, Bardock could never imagine being with anyone other than this beautiful woman, whose heart was too good for this race.

These thoughts filled his head even as he looked into those piercing, black orbs for the last time.

Her weakness must have been contagious, because Bardock finally confessed the things in his heart that his pride would never allow him to say until now. "Gine... you so much stronger than you think. You are the single most infuriating person I ever had to deal with in my life. Your naivete never ceases to astound me, and yet... I am in awe of you at the same time. You have a big heart, capable of so much love and kindess, and you never let life take that away from you no matter how much the others belittled you for it. That is the bravest thing I've ever seen in a person, and let no one tell you otherwise, understand?"

"Bardock...", Gine murmured weakly as she felt her consciousness drifting away, "Don't leave me..."

Bardock pushed a button inside the pod, allowing the door to close shut and seal the pod. By some miracle, Gine managed to overcome some of her drowsiness through sheer force of will. Without a belt to restrain her, Gine managed to throw herself off her seat. Gine breathed heavily as she tried to fight the drug's effects. She climbed up the pod's red window, and the Saiyan woman pressed herself against the glass to see her husband looking down on her with teary eyes and a sad smile. Gine tried breaking the window by slapping her palm against the glass, but she simply lacked the energy. When the Saiyan knew that she no longer had the strength, Gine started to break down crying.

"Why am I always so weak?", she thought to herself, "Why can't I do anything right?"

As the pod rumbled and its gears turn, Bardock knelt down and placed his hand over his wife's in the glass. He told her, "Don't hold yourself back because of me. You deserve to be happy. I love you, Gine. I always will."

"Bardock... don't... go...", Gine whispered as her second wind finally gave out just as the pod began shooting up into the skies. The Saiyan let go of the window and drifted into the darkness. "Don't..."

* * *

**Now**

"Go..."

Aya, now in her human form, leaned next to the couch as she wiped away a tear away from her friend's quivering cheek. The Saiyan was now crawling up in a ball with her true face now exposed in her sleeping expression. Without the veneer of a proud and drunken warrior, Gine was a grieving widow, still mourning the death of her husband even after all these years.

The AI looked down on her sadly as she leaned down and kissed Gine in the forehead.

Out of the blue, however, Aya received a notification that someone was making a call in the ship's private line. Usually, Aya would ignore such calls whenever she was attending to Gine, but this particular call came from someone labelled in her contacts as "Libby L.". It was an important enough call for the AI to step away from Gine to answer it.

Aya walked away from the living room to allow Gine to rest. She took the line to the kitchen and greeted her caller, "Director. If you are calling about Solomon Grundy, I am eager to report that he is under our custody. The  _Interceptor_ is currently en route to base."

_"I know about the capture. Every news outlet in Central City heard about it,"_ Lawrence coldly scolded.

"If you take offense to the collateral damage, I apologize but you should have specified that preference when you gave us the mission. You know about Gine's... tendencies."

_"I suppose I should have expected something like this,"_  she grumbled,  _"It's just that public scrutiny like this isn't productive for my organization's current task. Tell Gine this next time I give you two a mission."_

"I'll be sure to let her know," Aya hummed before taking a brief look at her sleeping friend. Gine was still resting on the couch, so the AI spoke to Lawrence with a low whisper, "And about that task you mentioned, is that something that we should know about?"

_"Is this line secured?"_

A holographic screen materialized in front of Aya. She made a few motions with her hands to switch the call over to an encrypted line. "It is now."

_"Grundy was just the beginning. My people have uncovered a conspiracy forming in the criminal underworld. I don't know who is involved or what their aim is, but I know that something big is on the horizon. Something sinister."_

"That bad, huh?"

_"Let's just say that a 'friend' of mine has given me good reason to be worried. We have reason to believe that several metahumans and criminal organizations are connected to this. Several of them are already in Central City. It's only a matter of time before they make a big play, and I don't know how far this conspiracy goes."_

"Do you want me to call the Green Lantern of this Earth? Last I checked, his schedule is clear, and he has experience in these kinds of matters."

_"I rather not involve him on this one. My government is rather tense about aliens, and I rather not take the heat for bringing the Corps into this. No, I'm going to need to keep you and Gine close for this one."_

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Gine's been rather... unstable recently. Bringing her into a more intense environment may not be the best course of action."

_"She better get her act together then, because your contract depends on how well you two bring me results."_

Aya's expression became more indignant. Frowning, she talked back, "Isn't your planet overpopulated with superheroes? Just draft them to your cause, and leave Gine out of it!"

_"Don't take that tone with me. You two signed a contract. Besides, I don't really have much of a pool to draw on. The Flash is missing. I can't trust the Green Arrow or his team. The Legends are incompetent. Batwoman won't return my calls, and Vixen has other commitments. In short, you two are the only assets I can rely on outside my organization. You're free agents, and it helps that you two can pass for a couple of mercenaries who stole some cutting edge tech. They're surprisingly okay with that cover."_

"How very upstanding of you," Aya deadpanned.

Lawrence tisked in annoyance.  _"Just have your Saiyan ready, Aya. I have a feeling that we're going to need her soon."_

"Understood."

Lawrence then ended the call on her end, cutting off the transmission.

Aya stared off to nowhere for a moment or two. Despite her nature as an artificial being, Aya's mind was rushed with a wave of anxiety and uncertainty. She was doubting herself, doubting her decision to enable Gine to take up a profession that played into the Saiyan's worst impulses. This doubt was amplified by Lawrence's tone and the coming storm she implied. If the situation was as bad as the AI was led to believe, Gine might be caught in a situation that might further aggravate the strain in her already fragile mind.

Aya would've solved this problem by terminating their contract with Lawrence, but from what little she knew about the director, she would probably go to the Saiyan directly for a job if her goal was that important to her. Gine would play into Lawrence's hands either way, so Aya had to go along for the ride to keep her friend safe.

She owed that Saiyan too much to abandon her now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are liking how my story is playing out so far. Here are some notes before we depart.
> 
> Last chapter, I promised I'll give more details about our lead's fighting abilities after her first fight in-story. Well, that passed so here it is.
> 
> As we all know, Gine is rather pathetic in the past with a meager power level and inexperience when it comes to fighting. However, she quickly rose above those humble beginnings. At the present day, she is about as strong as Goku was by the end of the Buu Saga. She is slightly stronger than that in my mind, however.
> 
> As for her moveset, Gine knows a number of her husband's old techniques, such as Spirit Javelin, Full Power Energy Wave, and Tyrant Lancer, which makes sense considering that Bardock would have trained with her back when they were in the army. She also learned a few more techniques as she learned from other teachers in between the present and past segments, and she knows a couple techniques based around her knife fighting. Gine does have an original technique of her own, which serves as her ultimate attack. It's called Maiden Blast, and although it's originally Pan's move, that's one of Gine's default moves in Dragon Ball Fusions, so I'm treating it like it's her original technique. As for her Super Saiyan forms, I'll keep it a secret for now. Needless to say, I will keep things simple early on in the story.
> 
> That's enough dilly-dallying for now. Thank you for the read, please leave a review, and most important of all, have a nice day.


	3. Minus Shorts: Cooler and Gine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two tales set in a distant past. As Gine escapes the genocide of her people, a malevolent player looks on with less than noble intentions.
> 
> Some time later, Gine awakens from suspended animation and is shocked to see who she finds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first posted this on fanfiction.net, this was originally just a placeholder chapter with the main purpose of informing my audience of this massive rewrite I had made at the time. The details are not important, but I also decided to attach a short story to it in order to give readers something new after a long absence and to put in more past content. 
> 
> I also placed what you would call a "post-credits" scene in my original last chapter by placing it after the author's note. As ao3 doesn't work that way, I decided to lump that in here too as another short story. 
> 
> Now that the convoluted history is out of the way, here's the two short stories. Enjoy!

**__The Minus Brothers**

In the periphery of the Saiyan home system, a circular mothership was idling through the black void. Its telescopes were zooming in and observing the destruction of the Saiyan homeworld by the hands of the diabolical Frieza.

In the upper level of the mothership's command center, four figures can be seen staring at a few screens, which were recording Planet Vegeta's destruction. Three of them were elite soldiers garbed in violet spandex and sporting special lime green and white battlesuits with a single brown shoulder pad. One of these elite troopers was a muscular green skinned humanoid with long, black hair and wearing special helmet that sported a yellow scouter. The other was a tall amphibian alien with brown, scaly skin and a blue scouter over one of his yellow eyes. The last trooper was the captain, a slender blonde and blue skinned humanoid with a green scouter.

The fourth figure was a tailed humanoid floating around in a spherical chair. His figure was obscured by shadows, but his red eyes pierced through the darkness like that of an apex predator. His very presence alone exerts an air of fear and authority that chokes almost anyone he meets into obeying his will lest they suffer his wrath.

As the four watch Frieza's Supernova obliterate Planet Vegeta and the Saiyan race into oblivion, the ship's cameras were focused on a green suited Saiyan warrior who was foolish enough to challenge Lord Frieza and was the first to be disintegrated as a result.

The green skinned alien, Dore, pointed to the dying Saiyan. "That's the guy right there! Bardock!"

"He doesn't look so tough. Now he's space dust," the blue skinned alien, Salza, commented smugly in a strangely French accent, "And there goes the monkey farm. This is what I call live entertainment."

The alien captain then noticed a something flying away from the explosion at one of the screens. Salza's expression clenched up in worry as he exclaimed, "What's this? Something is getting away! Magnify the image!"

"I'm on it, Salza!", the amphibian, Neiz, complied as he worked on a monitor to focus on the phenomenon that his captain pointed out. All the screens were focused on a singular Saiyan pod that managed to get away from Frieza's genocide.

"I want an interior view as well!"

Neiz complied as he used the ships advanced scanners to look into the pod's occupant. One of the screens displayed an unconscious Gine lying next to the pilot seat. "That's it! Got it!", Neiz said proud of his computer skills.

"Now where does that monkey thinks she's going?"

Neiz looked at the monitor again. "It says that the pod's making it's way to some planet called Earth. Intercept course?"

"Yes," the blue skinned alien said coldly.

"Belay that order," the tailed alien countered as he floated away from the shadows. He was a purple skinned reptilian humanoid with white bio-plates covering his chest, wrists, thighs, and head barring his human looking face. He had red lines running down his eyes and to his cheeks, and over his head was some kind of blue gem that graced his head carapace like a crown jewel.

Salza tried to object, "But Lord Cooler, someone is escaping."

"Frieza's in charge of this quadrant," Cooler said scornfully at that name, "Let him clean up this mess. I've got seven planets to destroy by the end of the day. Why should I let myself fall behind schedule to correct his mistakes? Besides, it's just one Saiyan woman and a weak looking one at that. She's no threat to me."

Cooler then floated closer to the screens. Through holographic controls built into his chair, the alien overlord switched one of the screens to focus on Frieza as he laughed maniacally at the destruction he had wrought.

"Ah, look at him. He's so pleased with himself that he's blinded by his arrogant pride! That could be King Vegeta sitting in that pod for all he knows," Cooler turned to his subordinates after indulging in that resentful rant. He muttered under his breath, "You've got a lot to learn... little brother."

As the planet finally exploded in a horrific ball of fire, Cooler ordered his subordinates, "Let's get out of here."

* * *

**Family Double Minus**

"... condition is stabilizing," Gine heard a feminine and rather emotionless voice say as she felt a small flick of consciousness.

"So she's okay?", a male voice asked with clear concern in his voice. At the moment, Gine felt that it belonged to someone she knew, even loved, but in her diminished state, the Saiyan woman couldn't tell who.

"Her body temperature has returned to healthy levels," she said clinically, "Her extraction from the damaged pod has been successful for the most part. Any outstanding ailments are currently being attended to."

"You could just say that she'll be fine, you damn bot."

The second voice seemed to respond to that insult with an irritated grunt.

Eventually, Gine managed to regain enough of her consciousness to open her eyes. The Saiyan woman could see that she was inside some tank, which was submerging her in some kind of turquoise liquid. Although she was obscured by the bubbles in the liquid, Gine could see the figures of the two voices beyond the glass.

One was some kind of luminescent white and green female alien, and the other was a... Saiyan. Gine could tell by the tail wrapped around his waist. From what Gine could tell, the Saiyan was lean but tall, and he wore a mostly black outfit. Although the tank's liquid was blurring the Saiyan's face, Gine could swear that she knew this man from somewhere.

But then it dawned on Gine. She was forcibly taken from her pod and was now stuffed inside a tank. There was some kind of breathing apparatus stuck in her face, and her wrists bound tightly to the back of the tank.

Scared and confused, Gine's eyes opened wide as she began to shift around violently inside the pod, splashing around the liquid within as she does. Her wrists began to redden as Gine blistered them across the leather restraints in a desperate attempt to break free. She paid no heed to the apparatus strapped to her mouth as her instincts compelled her to break out of her claustrophobic prison.

"What the hell?!", the Saiyan exclaimed.

The green alien projected a holographic screen on her wrist. After taking half a second to analyze the information, she told the Saiyan, "The subject's brain activity is spiking! She has awoken from her coma and is panicking! She's bending the oxygen tube!"

"Well, do something damn it!", he yelled angrily.

The alien ignored him as she made a few hand motions across the holographic screen. The medical tank then unhinged another apparatus from its side, which contained a syringe. As Gine was squirming around and slowly suffocating herself, the apparatus shot into the Saiyan's arm while she wasn't looking. Once the needle inserted itself into Gine's flesh, it injected a strong sedative into her bloodstream.

Once inside, Gine felt drowsy again right away. She tried to fight the drug's effects, but the Saiyan woman didn't even have the energy to keep her own eyes open. Her squirming ceased as she slowly faded into unconsciousness once again.

She could hear the two talking outside her tank in her last moments of consciousness. Apparently, the Saiyan wasn't pleased with the green alien's work. However, Gine didn't have time to decipher what was actually being said before going under again.

* * *

Gine didn't know how long she was under.

Hours?

Days?

Weeks?

And that's not even accounting the time Gine lost while she was in space.

But eventually, Gine's consciousness kicked in again. Hopefully no one puts her under again, because her body probably couldn't handle another coma.

Gine lifted her heavy eyelids once again to see that she was laying on a soft bed. Gine lifted her back, exerting herself with a grunt, as she at up on her bed. The Saiyan felt nauseated, a side effect of all the drugs pumped into her body, and her vision was blurry. She actually saw some stars for a moment, but Gine managed to regain enough clarity of mind to look down on her hands and see the outline her legs made under her blanket.

Gine noticed that she wasn't being restrained this time, which was a relief, but she could see a couple of red rings forming around her wrists and one of her index fingers was strapped to a device attached to a heart rate monitor. The Saiyan woman noticed that her clothes were different as well. She looked down her torso to see that her armor was missing. Replacing it was a simple black shirt with short sleeves. Slipping her hands down the blanket, Gine also noticed that she was now wearing shorts, and after wriggling her toes around, she could feel that her shoes are also missing.

"What the hell?", Gine murmured before forcing herself to take a look around. Still feeling very dizzy, Gine squinted her eyes as more light began invading her senses, much to her dismay. However, Gine continued to scan her surroundings, placing her hand above her eyes while doing so.

It seems that Gine was in some kind of med-bay, one inside of a ship if the gunmetal grey interior was any indication. Despite its rustic appearance, Gine could see that this room was rather advanced with enough equipment, monitors, and beds to accommodate a dozen patients should the need arise. Gine felt lucky that her captors were gracious enough to treat their prisoners properly like this, not that it made the situation  _that_ much better.

She was still kidnapped, and it scared Gine that she still doesn't know why these pirates took her from her pod. So many questions were filling her head.

Where was she?

Who's taken her?

What do they want with some low-class Saiyan? Do her captors want to eat her? Make her a slave? A sex slave?!

As Gine's thoughts became darker and darker, the timid Saiyan began to hyperventilate. Why was this happening? What did she do to deserve this, she thought. As Gine crawled up into a ball and panicked, she tried to do what her brother had taught her when they were little.

When panic sets in... act like a Saiyan and get over it!

Gine inhaled a large gulp of air and held it in her mouth. She put on her best "mean face" and tried to concentrate on that as long as possible. And, it worked... for ten seconds.

Gine's face turned red, and she collapsed into her bed, exhaling half her lungs after remembering that breathing was important. Once her breathing went back to normal, Gine's anxiety began to return.

She whined. "Oh gods! Just kill me already!"

"That would be convenient," a robotic voice said dryly. Gine turned her head to the side to see the same green alien that was standing outside her tank. After taking a more clear look at her, Gine could tell that the alien was a humanoid and rather feminine AI. She continued, "However, the Boss has forbidden your termination."

"Gah!", Gine jumped in her bed, startled by the sudden appearance of the dead-eyed bot. "What the... where did you come from?!"

"I was standing here the entire time," the AI stated before completely ignoring Gine and tending to the holographic screen on her wrist.

After calming down for a minute, Gine took a closer look at her apparent doctor. Her metal body was mostly white with luminescent green "skin" around the thighs, arms, and midriff. The robot was bald with the front of her human looking face being green, although her eyes were blue oddly enough. The most distinct part of her appearance, however, was the green circle on her chest with a symbol resembling a stylized lantern.

She wasn't like any medical bot that Gine had ever seen. They are usually not built to look so... sexy.

Gine blushed for a moment before shaking her head wildly in embarrassment. She asked the robot, "Excuse me. But, I have to ask. Where am I? How did I get here? My memory is kinda... fuzzy."

The robot cut her off saying, "You are currently aboard the medical bay of the  _Hammerhead,_ a former Cold Force cruiser that was forcibly seized by our company. As for your other query, we found your pod in a damaged state in... location redacted. I speculate that it was struck by a meteor during transit. Regardless, it was running low on power. Your demise was a near certainty, so the Boss felt it necessary to intervene. For what, I do not know."

So it was pirates, Gine thought. Or renegades. Or deserters. Something like that.

These rogues must be either really brave or really stupid to steal something as big as a starship from King Cold's army. Gine just hoped that when this crime inevitably blew up in their faces, she could escape before Frieza's father lumps her in with these guys.

However, Gine was still held captive aboard this vessel, and she doubted that her captors would let her go that easily. Considering these guys were strong enough to get rid of the ship's former crew, she best not challenge them directly. Besides, she had no idea if her pod made it with her.

And so, Gine decided it was most prudent to ask the robot for more information. It couldn't hurt. "So... who is this 'boss' of yours?"

"He is a Saiyan, just like yourself only male and more built for combat. He is a notorious pirate and leader of this company. His name is... classified."

So Gine was being held captive by a Saiyan deserter and his band of murderous pirates. "This can not get any worse...", Gine said under her breath, "What does he want from me?"

"Classified."

"I've been taken against my will!", Gine shouted, "I'm pretty sure I have the right to know why!"

"Negative."

"Are you guys going to at least release me at some point?"

"Unlikely."

Gine began to feel scared. "Look, I'm just a cook. I'm really no one special. I just want to go home. Please, I'm freaking out here! My husband... he would be devastated if something were happen to me. I can't remember why I was in that pod, but I have to go back to him! I have children for gods' sake! Please... just ask your boss to let me go. I'm begging you here."

The robot paused for a moment, seemingly to take in Gine's desperate pleas. She closed her eyes and gave Gine her final answer.

"No."

"Agh!", Gine grunted in frustration before collapsing back into her bed. Of course this wasn't going to work, she thought. Her 'doctor' was just a machine, an emotionless automaton bound to the will of her master. The Saiyan looked over to see that the robot resumed whatever task she was doing on that damn screen. "One more question, and I beg you to at least give me a straight answer. Do you have a name? If I'm gonna be held here against my will, I rather pretend to have an actual person around to talk to rather than some machine."

"This unit's designation is...", Gine saw that the medical bot had flashes of actual hesitation in her eyes as she paused, "My name is Aya."

"Huh," Gine was pleasantly surprised at that bit of life she saw in the robot's eyes. She tried to get this Aya to shake her hand by extending her arm towards her. The Saiyan woman smiled. "My name is Gine. Nice to meet you."

Aya looked at Gine's hand for a moment before looking back to her screen.

Noticing that the robot is leaving her hanging, Gine receded her arm and pouted sadly. "It's nice to meet you too, Aya."

For the next few minutes, the two were idling in awkward silence. Gine was occupying herself by huddling up and rubbing her fingers on her blanket. Aya, on the other hand, continued to be drawn in by whatever task she was performing on that holographic screen. The only sound that prevented the silence from becoming outright deafening was the mechanical pinging from the heart rate monitor. But eventually, the inane idleness was too much for the Saiyan woman's nerves. She may not be allowed to leave, but there shouldn't be any problem with getting out of bed to stretch, right?

Even if there was, it's not like Aya could do anything about it. Gine may be a weakling, but she is still a Saiyan and Aya is just a medical bot. If she objects, Gine could just knock her around. And who knows, maybe that will intimidate her captors enough to let her go. Maybe.

However, Gine's insecurities began to flare up. "But what if they get mad... no!", Gine told herself with a serious frown, "I am a Saiyan! I survived wars for gods' sake! I'm not going to be intimidated by some medical robot! I'm going to stand up! But what if I'm not strong enough to... damn it, Gine! Just get off your ass!"

There was no turning back now. Gine took a deep breath, gathering her resolve, as she removed the device from a finger. She pushed the blanket off her body, placed her feet on the floor, and started to stand up.

But before she could even straighten her knees, Gine felt her body suddenly stop in her tracks. She tried to command her body to take another step, but some force is holding her in place like a magnet.

"What the hell?!", Gine cursed before noticing that a thin layer of green light was covering her entire body, "What is this... ack!"

Gine was then pushed back into her bed without warning. The heart rate device then floated and clamped back into her finger, restarting the monitor. The Saiyan groaned as she looked over to Aya, who was apparently still occupied by that damn screen as she assaulted Gine with telekinesis.

"I am ordered not to let you out of bed," Aya coldly informed her charge.

Gine glared at the AI before sighing and slumping into her bed. "And here I thought we were going to be the best of friends."

"That probability is low."

"No kidding."

Aya's emotionless expression was the interrupted when she began to wince in pain. An oddly colored grey implant on the back of her neck suddenly turned hot red. Aya clutched her head with her free hand, and she let out a pained whimper.

Gine looked at this sudden change with concern. She tried to comfort the AI by holding her shoulder and asking, "Are you okay?"

The implant then reverted to its original grey. The pain afflicting Aya disappeared as she lets out a sigh of relief. She noticed Gine's hand on her shoulder and responded by glaring at the Saiyan. The AI actually looked angry, causing Gine to smile nervously and withdrawing her unwanted hand.

Aya closed her eyes and exhaled before opening them back up again, restoring her emotionless facade. She addressed her patient, "I have been ordered to leave. The Boss is going to see you now."

With that, Aya turned to walk out the door. The moment she was gone, Gine could hear heavy footsteps outside. When a massive shadow loomed over the opened over the hallway, Gine felt her throat going dry. The captain's power seem to resonate out of his body and exert a grim pressure on the terrified Saiyan. This caused Gine to futilely huddle to the corner of her bed and pull up her blanket up to her chin like a scared child.

As the shadow spilled into the room, the pressure seemed to grow and cast an ominous air of dread as the captain's very steps rang louder and more intense like a clang of bullets. Bullets that Gine felt were only narrowing missing her head. In what felt like forever, the captain's silhouette started to peek out of the opening, the lighting allowing the shadows to mask his body like a monster stalking its prey.

"So this is how I'm gonna die, huh? Quivering into a corner like a bi..."

"When I was first told that it was you that we caught, I almost laughed," he spoke with a deep, yet cordial tone, "Out of all the Saiyans I could've bumped into, I never thought it would be you, Gine."

Gine recognized that voice. She relaxed her position and muttered, "It can't be..."

The figure finally stepped into the light. He had a lean, muscular figure not unlike Gine's husband. He looked like any other Saiyan with a long and spikey mane of black hair that reached his shoulders along with dark colored eyes and a tail wrapped around his waist. However, unlike most Saiyans, the captain had skin was a shade of light grey. He wore a black and dark blue Saiyan battlesuit with near rectangular shoulder pads, black trousers, a pair of fingerless gauntlets, and boots.

Gine's eyes widened once she realized the identity of the  _Hammerhead's_ captain. It was her long-lost brother.

"Turles?"

The man flashed a sly smile. "Hey little sis. Long time, no see."

"Turles!", Gine said happily before rushing out of bed, not caring about the device that was ripped off her finger, before she practically tackled her brother and gave him a big hug. The dam behind her eyes broke as the weathered Saiyan's cheeks were covered by trails of happy tears. "Is this real? I thought I'd never see you again..."

Turles hugged back. "I'm here, sis. It's good to have you back."

The two siblings don't talk any further for a good minute. They didn't need to. After everything that had happened, all the time that the two lost, all the siblings wanted to do at the moment was to hold on to each other as if they were trying to keep this cruel universe from separating each other again.

They better savor this reunion as much as they can, however, because the worst was yet to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Turles is going to be in this story and as Gine's brother no less. And that would make him Goku's uncle too. I also changed his hairstyle to resemble Gine's in order to circumvent any... unfortunate implications since he would look too much like Bardock otherwise. Also, I updated his outfit to resemble some of the recent battlesuit models in Super and made him wear actual pants. It's unfortunate that I don't have any pictures for you all, because the design looks pretty cool in my head. But such is the nature of the medium. Also, this interpretation of Turles is also going to be a bit nicer than he is in his movie only because he actually loves Gine as a sister. However, he's not exactly an upstanding guy, and his recruitment and subsequent treatment of Aya is... less than ethical.
> 
> Additionally, I originally intended Aya to not meet Gine until after she left her native universe. However, considering that point won't come up for a long time, we need to flesh out the two's relationship sooner by showing how it began. As you saw, they didn't exactly start off at the best of terms but they obviously get over it by the present day. But for right now in these past sections, Aya doesn't exactly have the best opinion of organics, more specifically Saiyans. Despite her character development by the end of her series, what Turles did to her would reignite her some the darker aspects of her personality. Speaking of the series finale, I will provide an explanation to how Aya jumped to Universe 7. Let's just say it ties into how she survived GL:TAS' series finale.
> 
> And as for Cooler, he's going to be a big player in the past segments. He might even show up in the present day. We'll see. 
> 
> That's about it for now. Thanks for the read, and have a nice day!


	4. The Shady Ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gine's secret employer shows her face, and she makes a shocking move! What does this mean for Central City? Or its heroes?
> 
> Meanwhile, Gine is spending her downtime collecting a debt. That's about it. Then she experiences some flashbacks, so what else is new?

**Before**

Several minutes have passed since Gine's first meeting with her long-lost brother. After fully recovering from the pod crash, Turles led Gine to his personal quarters at the top deck of his ship, where the two siblings caught up over lost time.

Gine, now wearing her usual outfit, began this conversation by wrapping her big brother in a warm and loving embrace. "Turles...", she said happily.

He laughs. "Glad to see that you're as touchy-feely as ever."

Gine let go of her brother and said, "Sorry. It's just that... it's been a long day."

Turles shrugged. "It's alright. I miss that the most about you."

Gine blushed as her brother casually tapped her in the shoulder, prompting her to follow him to his bunk. The Saiyan woman gave the familiar looking piece of furniture a funny look. "So that's where our old bunk bed went."

"Furniture is expensive especially for a band of misfits like us," he began to explain, "We managed to steal this ship straight off the factory, but unfortunately they didn't have time to put in the furnishings before we took it. We had to steal or buy most of it, but thankfully mom gave me this before she... you know."

"Yeah...", Gine looked down sadly. Turles walked over and sat himself on the lower bed. He looked at his little sister, smiled, and patted a spot on the mattress next to him. Gine broke her somber pout and forced a smile. As she sat next to him, Gine asked, "So after you left the army, you... what? Became a pirate?"

"I prefer 'spacefaring entrepreneur' thank you."

"Right...", Gine mumbled as she looked around her brother's quarters. It reminded the Saiyan woman of the upper-class, galactic flats that she only glimpsed in magazines but reinterpreted to Turles' brutish tastes. The chrome interior almost sparkled like platinum if it weren't for the wear and tear of decades. There was furniture and electronic appliances of fairly high quality scattered about along with a quaint fish tank built into the walls. These furnishings, however, were joined with various hunting trophies that were displayed on or near the walls. Disturbingly, a few of them were humanoid in shape. "You've been busy."

Turles followed where his sister's eyes were looking at before chuckling. "I guess have. The outlaw lifestyle may not be the most glamorous thing in the universe, but I honestly can't imagine doing anything else. Besides, there are fewer uptight elites holding me back."

Gine laughed back. "Yeah. I guess it was for the best. You were never one for following the rules, or anyone really. You are... meant for greater things than that."

Turles exhumed swagger as he relaxed his back and crossed his arms. "You know it," the pirate then realized his sister's somber tone. He spoke more seriously, "You should've come with me, Gine. You could have been a lot more than just another grunt, and I would've appreciated the company."

Gine shyly rubbed her arm. "I don't know about that. I'm not very strong, and I'd probably be too homesick to be any useful. Besides, Bardock would've been sad if I left."

"But doesn't it bother you that our system never allowed you a chance to be... well, somebody? I get settling down, but I honestly can't imagine it to be worth the ridicule and elitism."

"It's not for everybody, but it suits me just fine," Gine answered. She asked, "So tell me. How are things with you these days?"

"Nothing much. I'm on the run, actually. The Resistance is facing some setbacks but..."

"Wait... slow down," Gine interrupted after catching what should be groundbreaking news, "You're leading a rebellion? Against whom?"

Turles shrugged. "Who else is worth rebelling against in the North Galaxy? The Cold Force obviously."

Gine stood up from her seat and shouted, "Have you gone completely insane?! In case you forgot, the Cold Force is the most powerful military in the galaxy! And that's not mentioning the fact that the ruling family are the strongest beings in the universe and are completely psychotic! Rebelling against them is practically suicide!"

"It's only suicide if you don't have a plan," Turles countered as he stood and said with a smug smile, "Luckily for us, your big brother has a foolproof plan to put down those genocidal assholes for good."

Gine sighed. "I suppose it was too much to ask for you to become more responsible with age."

"What can I say? I never think small. Sure, I've had a few setbacks, but I'll bounce back. I always do."

"Your head definitely will if they ever catch you," Gine deadpanned.

"Heh, good one. And that's a big 'if' by the way. I've been in this business for a long time, Gine. The war business, I mean. And you don't survive as long as I have without hiding an ace up your sleeve. Trust me, Gine. They'll never see it coming."

"If this 'ace' of yours is so good, then why are you on the run?"

Turles shrugged. "I only found it after Cooler blew up our bases, and like I said, I have a plan. I'm not saying that it's gonna be easy, but that's why I'm gonna need all the help I could get. Specifically, I may need your help, so this is me extending an invitation. What do you say?"

"An invitation?", Gine said looking at her brother as if he suddenly lost half his IQ, "No. Hell no! I hate the Cold Force too, but I have a family, Turles! I... I sympathize with your cause. I really do, but this is not worth dying over. Whether we like it or not, this is King Cold's galaxy. We can only live in it."

"But don't you want those monsters to pay for enslaving our people?!"

"Of course I do!", Gine yelled back, "King Cold, Frieza, Cooler, they all deserve to die! I get that! But it's not worth it! Just... just take me home, Turles. Please, I... all I want now is go back to Planet Vegeta. Hopefully Bardock will be back from his assignment by then."

"What are you even...", Turles started to say before his eyes widened, "I thought... you don't know what happened, do you?"

"Know what?"

Turles was fumbling his words. There really was no easy way to break in the news. "I'm sorry, but... we can't go home anymore. Our planet, it... it was destroyed a week ago."

Those words hit Gine like a truck. Her breath shortened and a cold chill ran down the poor woman's spine. She almost whispered, "W-What?"

Turles sighed before continuing, "Frieza claimed that our planet was destroyed by a meteor strike, but I suspect that isn't the whole truth. Either way, everyone on the planet was killed, including King Vegeta and..."

Gine knew whose name her brother would say next. Her pod accident must've jumbled her memory, but Turles' news was starting remind Gine of her last moments on her doomed homeworld.

And Gine desperately hoped that these memories were a lie. Her eyes watered as the Saiyan's voice began to break. "No... no... no! That's not true!", Gine yelled at her brother, "Planet Vegeta is fine! Everyone in it is fine! And Bardock... he's still alive, damn it! He wouldn't leave me like this! He wouldn't have... he wouldn't..."

No matter how hard Gine tried to deny it, her memory of that terrible moment managed to creep into the back of her mind with every word she spoke. Suddenly, every tragedy that befell Gine in that one painful moment rushed in like water out of a broken dam. Tears run across her cheek as Gine remembered the blood on her husband's face, the needle that pricked her skin, and the resigned look in Bardock's eyes as he gave his final farewell. She remembered it all now.

She remembered that the man she loved was gone forever.

Gine just dropped to her knees as grief began to set in her heart. The Saiyan widow began to sob loudly as her palms held her up on the tear stained floor. "Bardock... Bardock... no... no... it's my fault... it's all my... I should've been stronger... I should've stayed... I... I killed him!"

Turles looked at Gine with pity. He knelt down and placed a hand on her grieving sister's shoulder. "It's not your fault, Gine. It was the meteor. If our planet's security system couldn't catch it, then..."

"No...", Gine breathed out between sobs. Anger was mixed into her grief as she continued, "He was murdered... my husband was murdered... by Frieza!"

Turles was at a loss for words. The rebel pirate suspected foul play was involved, but he never expected that Frieza had the gall to do what Gine was implying. "What an interesting turn of events," he thought to himself. The scheming would just have to wait, however. Turles had a little sister to comfort through an unimaginable tragedy. "I'm sorry."

Gine looked up. Overcome by crippling sadness, she threw herself into her brother's arms and wetting his shoulder with her tears. "My Bardock is gone!", she sobbed, "He's gone... he's gone... he's gone!"

* * *

**Now**

Gine woke up the next morning, laying on her side to see the back of her couch. The Saiyan felt something warm coming over her shoulder. Smiling, she turn over, expecting to see someone special only to find the rest of her living room. Confused and distraught, Gine scanned her surroundings only to find a blanket wrapped over her body.

Sighing in defeat, Gine got out of her couch only to notice that the sores on her face stopped aching.

"What the...", Gine touched her face and felt a lack of both bumps and bruises, "I'm all patched up."

_"You're welcome by the way,"_ Aya spoke in her usual way over the speakers,  _"It's a good thing that you're a heavy sleeper, because I was able to apply some treatment without interrupting your 'beauty sleep'."_

"Thanks Aya," Gine said before getting up and walking towards the kitchen, "I owe you one."

Aya scoffed playfully.  _"More than one."_

Once Gine entered the kitchen, she decided to use her early morning sobriety to cook herself a big breakfast of eggs, waffles, and a  _lot_ of bacon. Five waffle irons were frying all sorts of specialty batters as the Saiyan used both of her hands to flip and sizzle her two breakfast meats on two wide pans. The sweet and savory aroma filled the air gloriously, tempting Gine to give into her baser instincts and just slobber over her half-cooked meal. Thankfully for her digestive tract, Gine developed the right amount of discipline from her years as a cook to stop herself from ruining her breakfast.

"Doesn't mean that it isn't easy, though...", she thought to herself.

_"My olfactory sensors are reacting quite positively to your cooking, Gine."_

"That's a long winded way to say that I have good cooking skills," Gine said before grabbing a spatula to flip her eggs.

_"I'm just trying to improve your mood, Gine. I detected increased activity in your amygdala after I scanned your brain last night. In other words, you are feeling depressed and I want to help."_

"I hate to break it to you, but one compliment is not enough to lighten my mood," Gine said as she placed her crispy bacon strips on a plate, "And don't scan my brain without my consent! It's creepy as hell!"

_"Then how would I know what you're thinking of at all times?"_

Gine paused her cooking to look at the nearest surveillance camera and gave it a glare. It was her way of giving the AI 'the look' when she doesn't have a physical body present.

_"That was a joke."_

Gine smiled and resumed her cooking. "Good one. I almost laughed there. Thank you."

_"I can see that. Your newest brain scan is much more promising."_

"Not falling for it, Aya."

The AI laughed as Gine proceeded to gather her wide breakfast spread to three big plates. She balanced these dishes, two on her hands and one through telekinesis, before flying to the refrigerator, opening the door with her foot, and telekinetically grabbing a six-pack.

With her entire breakfast assembled, Gine steadily flew to her table and rather gracefully sat in her chair. After carefully making sure that none of the food was dropped, Gine quickly gave into her savage instincts and stuck both her hands in her food piles before stuffing them into her mouth. Half the food on each plate was suddenly vacated as their crumbs, oil, and yoke decorated Gine's rough hands with the periodic sipping of the beer wetting her lips.

As Gine was clearing out half her breakfast in half a minute, Aya sighed over comms.  _"I recall you having actual table manners back in the day. At least, you were using actual utensils."_

"Uotensls r fur wek mnded fuls! Nut twu Sayjins!"

_"Indeed, and what part of the Saiyan code requires talking with your mouth full?"_

Gine took a moment to swallow. She paused the massacre of her food and said, "Look, it's not like there's anyone around to watch me eat."

_"Should I be offended by that exclusion?"_

Gine sighed in frustration. "That's different. You know me."

_"And what about that incident on Earth-2 in the Richard Dragon Buffet,"_ Aya countered before summoning an eye probe to project a recording from her databanks concerning Gine surrounded by mountains messy plates and traumatizing nearby children with her eating habits.

"Yeah, well... I was drunk at the time!"

_"And the other incident on that steakhouse on Earth-8?",_ Aya's probe then played a scene where Gine, who was now visibly stained with barbeque sauce, breaking a rib in front of a distrurbed waiter to get at the marrow.

"I... I was just really hungry."

_"So how do you explain that mess_ _you made at a nearby ice cream parlor exactly five minutes later?"_

"Look," Gine said before Aya could bring up another recording, "I just stopped giving a damn a long time ago. How's that for an answer?"

_"Satisfactory,"_ Aya responded sarcastically,  _"Addendum. Would you like to correct that habit with some online lessons about etiquette?"_

"Hell no," Gine stated plainly before lifting the plate of eggs and pouring the contents down her throat. She repeated this messy process with the remaining two plates, scarfing the food down her mouth and shredding it viciously with her teeth. Once the waffles have been fully devoured and washed down with the last can of beer, Gine neatly placed each plate on top of one another before laying back on her chair and sighing happily, satisfied to lay around for a moment.

_"Never change, Gine,"_ Aya chirped. However, after a good three minutes have passed, the AI interrupted her friend's lazing with a more serious tone.  _"Director Lawrence has called. She disapproved your handling of the Grundy situation."_

Gine dropped her smile and spoke irately, "If she has a problem with it, tell her to do her own damn dirty work. She paid for my services, so that's what she's getting. Nothing other than a thousand credit pay bump will change that."

_"Either that, or I do her dirty work."_

"Exactly. And you're not as good."

_"Hm, I wouldn't go that far,"_ Aya teased,  _"But she does have a point. Seven times out of ten, you cause significant collateral damage when you confront our marks."_

"Big game hunting requires high caliber firepower," Gine retorted defensively, "I can blow up planets with a stare, Aya. Lawrence should be grateful that my fights don't end with the city being leveled."

_"That's not much of a consolation, Gine. While I do have my own problems with Lawrence, I do agree that we should exercise more restraint when it comes to collateral damage. Like you said, you have enough power to destroy planets. I know you're doing your best in the field, but you could stand to be more careful around buildings. We don't want to ruin people's homes after all."_

Gine winced as an image of her homeworld's destruction quickly flashed before her eyes.

_"I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be insensitive."_

"No, no," Gine said waving off her friend's concern, "It's alright. It's just... I just need to do a better job at keeping my mind centered."

_"You shouldn't blame yourself for your own trauma, Gine. No one could have endured the things you went through unscathed."_

"Don't... don't lecture me, Aya," Gine spoke softly as she got out of the chair, "I'm not in the mood."

The dejected Saiyan then walked over to her couch. She decided to plant herself there and pick up the phone she left on the coffee table, which she used to check how many credits were in her online account in Hardcore Station's Bank of the Multiverse.

_"I'm sorry, but... you could just talk to me. You can talk, and... I'll be silent. You can vent all you want, and I won't judge you for it. It's the least I could do after..."_

"I'm running low on credits," Gine interrupted seemingly ignoring Aya's heartfelt speech, "How the hell did that happen?"

_"You...",_ Aya wanted to get through to Gine. The Saiyan is clearly keeping a lot of pain inside, but her pride, or perhaps her guilt, is refusing to let her admit it. However, Aya didn't want to alienate her friend by pushing the topic too far, so she reluctantly went along with the ploy.  _"You've spending more money on alcoholic beverages since last week by a growth rate of 58 percent. As we still need to spend credits on food and other supplies, I recommend you cut down your visits to the bar if you wish to have more spending money."_

"Thanks for the info dump, Aya," Gine said sarcastically before putting away her phone and walking into her quarters, "I can't promise on that last bit, but I'm definitely going to fix our money problem."

_"And how exactly are you going to do that?"_

"There's a guy who owes me money in Earth-1's Central City," Gine said as she stepped into her closet and changed her clothes, "I did a job for him a while back, and I've let him coast on an IOU for too long." Gine then stepped out of her closet with a green hoodie on along with blue jeans and sneakers, "I aim to make him pay back that debt. With interest for wasting my damn time."

_"You're not going to hurt him, are you?"_

As Gine walked out of her quarters to head into the elevator, she told Aya, "You worry too much. My debtor's a coward. All I have to do is look tough to get him to remember the money he owes me."

Gine pressed the button to get the elevator to move down to the cargo bay.  _"I suppose that course of action is ethical enough... as long as you don't lose your temper and break his bones."_

"I happen to know when keep my cool, especially when it comes to business."

_"That's debatable."_

Gine sighed. "Look at it this way. If I do anything permanent to him, he wouldn't be able to pay me. Why would I want that?"

_"I... suppose I could concede to that point."_

"Thank you."

Aya was silent for a moment. She then suggested,  _"Would you like some company?"_

As the elevator doors opened, she replied, "No offense Aya, but I prefer to have some alone time today."

_"I... understand,"_ Aya spoke hesitantly.

Gine then walked over to a switch a few steps away from the elevator and pulled the lever down. The mechanism caused part of the floor in front of the entrance hatch to spit apart as a new floor rose up to reveal what looks to be a plain white minivan. It was a gift from a steely client from Earth-84, but there's more to it than meets the eye.

As Gine walked over and entered the driver's seat, Aya told Gine,  _"I fixed your armor and fabricated another mask after I dropped Grundy off with Lawrence's people. They're in the trunk, so if you feel the need to work then..."_

Gine let out a small smile as she put in her key and started the engine. "Where would I be without you, Aya?"

_"Probably in a cheap bar, face down in your own urine,"_ she teased.

"Got me there," Gine said before shifting gears from P to a function below it labeled FM. The Saiyan then pressed a button, which caused her minivan to break apart as pistons and other mechanisms shifted the plate and wheels around before reassembling the vehicle into a new form. The steering wheel in front of Gine rotated 180 degrees into the vehicle as it was replaced by stick-based flight controls. After a few moments of mechanical clanging and buzzing, the minivan was now transformed into a Jumpship class space shuttle, ready to fly through advanced thrusters and anti-gravity technology.

Aside from being a cool trophy from a past job, Gine's vehicle, in its minivan form, serves as a good way to travel around a populated location as the sight of a flying woman would draw unwanted attention. Additionally, the car's shuttle mode was spaceworthy, so it allowed Gine personalized space transportation that is less conspicuous than the larger  _Interceptor_. Those functions, along with the vehicle's various scanners, cloaking device, and weapons systems, serve as an integral part of the Saiyan mercenary's arsenal. That, and it also has one more bonus function that Gine is particularly fond of, but that's a story for another day.

Once the shuttle's thrusters began firing, the  _Interceptor's_  entrance hatch opened with a protective, semi-permeable green forcefield covering the opening to protect the cargo bay from decompression as the ship was still high in the air.

Gine then picked up a silver, heart-shaped locket from her pocket and wrapped the chain around the stem of the rear-view mirror. Once the head was hanging safely in the air, Gine gazed at the memento for a moment before she smiled and brushed her hand against it as a small ritual. She then spoke to Aya through a communications link built within the minivan, "If you happen to need me while I'm away... I'll probably be shitfaced in some bar. My apologies in advance."

_"You are the most considerate person I've ever met,"_ Aya deadpanned.

Gine chuckled. "See you later."

The shuttle then flew out of the  _Interceptor_  before Gine activated the cloaking device. The spacecraft was now shielded from prying eyes as it descended to the city below.

* * *

Meanwhile in the headquarters of Central City's police department, it was business as usual for the boys and girls in blue. Detective West and his fellow officers have finished the crime scene(s) investigation into yesterday's metahuman attack. As far as they know, this was a rather straightforward case.

An unstable zombie decided to rob a diamond exchange, but he was intercepted by an unknown flying woman with a mask. Both metas managed to evade police capture, leaving behind massive property damage, a broken mask, and a collective headache when the police department had to cordon off sections of the city across vast distances. This kind of situation should sound very outlandish and even comical, but after three years having to deal with metahuman criminals, the officers of CCPD were rather accustomed to the impossible.

The assigned officers, detectives, and CSI are currently in the process of uncovering the mystery of this latest attack along with ascertaining who exactly their suspects are... after finishing their daily paperwork of course. With the help of Team Flash, this case should play out like all the others in the past. However, an unexpected intervention would soon interrupt what should be an open and shut case.

The police captain overseeing this department, David Singh, was busy reviewing the latest budget request on his computer when one of his subordinates knocked on the door of his office. He called to them, "Come in."

The officer inserted herself halfway into the opened door and peaked her head out. "Captain Singh, someone working for the federal government wants to see you."

Singh sighed. "Send them in."

The subordinate nodded and stepped out the office. Moments later, a blonde woman wearing sunglasses and a Men in Black type suit entered Singh's office. The police captain looked up from his computer and said, "I wasn't expecting a visit from the feds today. What can I do for you?"

The woman removed her sunglasses and met her blue eyes with Singh's with a rather icy glare. "My name is Lazuli Lawrence," she said as she pulled out a photo ID from her pocket, "I'm in charge of the Superhuman Advanced Defense Executive. 'SHADE' for short."

"You're that federal department that deals with aliens, right?"

"As well as metahumans, magic, and other paranormal phenomena for the purposes of national defense, but that's not important. I just stopped by to inform you that SHADE is officially authorized to take charge of any and all metahuman operations in this city. CCPD is to answer to my organization when dealing with future metahuman criminals. We look forward to..."

Although Lawrence informed him of the news in the most casual fashion, her words hit Singh like a truck. She woke him up from his work-induced daze as the police captain spoke, "Excuse me. What?!"

"Did I mispoke?", Lawrence responded with a rather uncaring monotone, "Let me repeat myself. SHADE is directly overseeing the metahuman operations in this city. Your department will transfer responsibility for any metahuman cases over to us, share any evidence and information on said cases, and act in a supporting role to my organization's efforts. In other words, you can finally take a break from these metas for a while. We'll take it from here."

"I heard you the first time, but... you can't do that!", Singh objected, "This city is under CCPD's jurisdiction! You can't just alter our job description out of the blue! Your department doesn't have the authority to!"

"That's funny, because I have the approval of this city's mayor to do just that," Lawrence said before handing Singh a pair of documents, "If it's any consolation, this won't be a permanent arrangement. This will only be until this recent wave of meta crimes have passed. In the meantime, SHADE will be providing your metahuman task force with the necessary training and equipment needed to properly handle future meta crimes."

After skimming through the documents, Singh looked up to Lawrence with an offended look in his eyes. "My department has been protecting this city from metahumans for three years now. We don't need your help."

"The facts would say otherwise," Lawrence countered, "We've been monitoring the meta situation in this city ever since the Particle Accelerator Explosion. In those three years, we've seen a singularity nearly destroy the entire city, an army of metas laying siege to said city, and a self-proclaimed speed god ripping holes into the space-time continuum. The only reason why Central City remains intact is because of the Flash, and with him gone, my superiors felt that your department can no longer defend the people against the metahuman problem. That's why they sent us to correct that."

"Sure, my people are having problems dealing with these metas, but can you honestly say your organization could've done a better job if you had to protect this city from criminals with honest-to-god superpowers for three years?"

Lawrence simply responded with a smile and picked up some photos from her pocket. She tossed them at Singh's desk, and the police captain looked down to see Solomon Grundy on the back of an armored truck and in chains. Captain Singh's eyes widened as Lawrence explained, "Remember him? In case you forgot, he was the meta who robbed the diamond exchange yesterday. Your department was unable to catch him, but my people managed to detain him an hour later. When I showed this to Mayor Bellows, he was convinced of his city's need for us. Now, will you let my people do their jobs, or are going to continue giving me arguments to shoot down."

Captain Singh was at a loss for words. As much as he dislikes the idea of handing over a whole set of cases to some shady government types, it's not like he has much of a choice here. Both the mayor and the federal government want this to happen, and no amount of complaint was gonna change that.

Singh sighed in resignation. "I... understand. My department will go along with your request."

"Good," Lawrence nodded before turning away to leave. However, as she was about to step out the door, Singh told her, "Just because we're letting you have this, does not mean that we have to like it. If this goes wrong, I'll be sure to let your superiors know who's to blame."

Lawrence merely retorted with, "I'm not the enemy here, captain. I'm just a necessary evil."

She then leaves.

Once Lazuli Lawrence was in the elevator, Singh got out from his chair and left his office. He was walking through CCPD for a minute until he arrived at the desk of one Detective Joe West.

Joe stopped writing his case report as he looked up to his captain. "Is there something wrong, sir?"

The police captain looked at his subordinate dead in the eye with the utmost seriousness. "I need you to do something for me, Joe."

* * *

Unbeknownst to the officers of CCPD, a flying invisible shuttle flew over their building. The futuristic vehicle was making its way through the crowded streets and low-lying buildings unobstructed as its mostly sober Saiyan driver was following her craft's navigation to her debtor's place of residence.

Gine thought to herself, "The last time I saw that bastard, he just got fired from CCPD for... uh... stealing a knife from a crime scene? Dumping a perp's body in a vat of chemicals? Or did he ran off to get an acid bath with a bunch of monks? What was his name again? Eel O'Brian? Yeah, that sounds right. He hired me to intimidate some street gang who was shaking him down for protection money.

On hindsight, maybe I shouldn't trust a sleezy guy like that to pay back what he owed me, but he looked desperate at the time. Hell, the only reason why I even took that job in the first place was because I took pity on the poor bastard. I'd feel bad if I let that gang break his legs over cash he didn't have. That's probably why I let that debt stand until now. Rookie mistake on my part."

Gine then looked out of the windshield to see that the tenement building she was looking for. After using the shuttle's advanced scanners, she found a spot several blocks away without witnesses or cameras, a perfect spot to decloak and land. Once it was out of any visual range, the vehicle shut off its cloaking device, the invisible sheen burning away like paper, when it was only a few feet off the ground. Gine then pushed the stick down to let her shuttle close the distance and hover over the road. When the undercarriage was only inches off the ground, Gine shifted gears to D and pressed a different button.

With that, the dashboard flipped around again to replace the flight controls with a traditional steering wheel, and the shuttle transformed back into its minivan form. When all four wheels touched down on terra firma, Gine held on to the steering wheel and drove her vehicle like an actual car.

After an hour of driving, Gine traveled to a more populated side of town and parked her car a few feet away from her debtor's tenement building. With her route guidance finished, the Saiyan removed her keys and exitted her minivan. Once she locked her vehicle, Gine put on her hood and stepped into the sidewalk, blending into the crowd, as she eyed the target building one last time.

"Getting closer. You better have my money... crap, I forgot his name again. Is it... Rex Mason? Ugh, keeping track of these names across universes is such a hassle."

For the time being, Gine put the unimportant detail of her debtor's name in the back of her mind as she moved along with the crowd. Once the door to the tenement building was in range, Gine broke off from the crowd to enter through one of the doors. Making her way through the rundown and damp lobby, Gine walked into the nearest elevator and pressed the button to the building's fifth floor.

The Saiyan's flight up to the fifth floor took only a couple minutes of real time, but to Gine, it felt like an hour. Gine didn't know if it was the horribly distracting graffiti walrus drawn on the door, the disgusting smell of the piss stain on the wall, or the fact that the elevator music was just a loop of  _Partridge Family_ theme song, but it made the Saiyan regret not taking the stairs. Though, to be honest, the prior two things weren't bugging Gine as much as that damn song.

"I don't wanna 'get happy'. Shut up!", Gine shouted at the elevator's speakers. Once the doors finally opened, Gine hung her head down and sighed. "I'm yelling at an inanimate object. Glad no one's here to see that."

The Saiyan then awkwardly shuffled out of the elevator to look for the room number of her debtor. After shifting her eyes all over the signs and getting lost a few times, Gine finally found the room she was looking for. On the door window, Gine could see the title of her debtor's business engraved in the glass.

Ralph Dibny: Private Investigator.

"So it's that elastic man," Gine hummed to herself, "He's the one with a stable job and a lovely wife, right? I should probably go easy on him. Maybe give him a few more days?"

Gine then opened the door a crack to see a chubby and greasy Ralph behind his desk with an anxious looking woman sitting in front of him. The Saiyan could see that her debtor had some very explicit photos on his desk.

Ralph spoke to his client in a rather boastful tone, "As you can see, your husband wasn't taking a business trip to Keystone City last weekend. He was actually in New Brighton visiting a brunette to 'hike the Appalachian Trail' if you catch my drift. Also, I snuck around her house and found a marriage license that definitely doesn't have your name on it."

Ralph handed the poor woman said marriage certificate. The client reluctantly took ahold of the document. After skimming through it, she dropped the certificate and covered her hands over her face to sob into them. "I, huff, can't believe this... I thought what Will and I had was special..."

"If you thought that was bad, I'm afraid to say that's not all I found," Ralph said as he grabbed another set of photos and another document, "I usually just get the dirt and go, but I was digging around for another case when I found this."

The woman looked through the next batch of evidence to see that her husband was also seeing a man behind her back along with yet  _another_ marriage certificate with a noticeably masculine name next to his. The full extent of her husband's infidelity was almost enough to make her faint.

Ralph looked on awkwardly as the woman cried even harder than before. "Yeah, your husband, he's... kind of a jerk. I mean, stepping out of your wife is one thing, but getting married to his side... people is just overkill. I mean, how do you even do that? Though on hindsight, maybe I should've noticed that the same name popped up on both those cases..."

At this point, the woman wasn't listening to Ralph's ramblings as she continued to wail mournfully. While she was distracted, Ralph took the opportunity to size up his client's... features. Having measured the woman's features in his mind, Ralph let his baser instincts convince him to 'win over' the beautiful lady while she's distraught. Ralph spoke as his hand inched closer to his client's.

Gine watched Ralph get a slap as the woman took the incriminating photos and went out the door. The Saiyan got out of her way as an amused smile grew on her face. "I must be confusing him with Elongated Man."

Gine then let herself in while the door was open.

Ralph was rubbing his reddened cheek as he looked down dejected. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was losing my charm," he commented to himself.

"That's assuming you had any to begin with," Gine remarked.

"Who are...", Ralph began to say before a memory clicked in his head, "Wait, you're that mercenary who helped get the Kite-Men gang off my back, right?"

"You remember me. That's good, Ronnie."

"It's Ralph, actually."

"Whatever. Speaking of the Kite-Men job, I'm here for that debt you owe me," Gine glared at Ralph and stuck out her hand, "Five hundred bucks. Now."

Ralph gulped. "Yeah... about that."

Gine sighed and put her hand down. "Here we go."

"D-Don't get me wrong. My, uh, business has been booming ever since you drove the Kite-Men out of this neighborhood. It's just... that... I... may have lost all my money to... bad investments..."

"What bad investments?", Gine asked with her glare becoming more intense.

Ralph rolled his chair next to the wall as he began to shudder in fear. "You see... I had the money a week ago, but I, uh, tried my hand in the stock market, and it... didn't... end... well."

Her patience running thin, Gine cracked her knuckles as she stepped closer to Ralph. "You wanna rephrase that last sentence, Ricky?"

"I-It's Ral...", the private eye said before Gine tossed his desk to the side, shattering it against a wall. Ralph screamed like a movie damsel before falling off his chair.

Gine stepped closer with a fire in her eyes. "I should've let the Kite-Men beat the shit out of you if I'd known you'd screw me over like this!"

Ralph tried to tiptoe around the volatile Saiyan as he tried to hastily talk his way out of this problem. "I-If it makes you feel any better, it wasn't my idea! It was this asshole I know, Earl! He told me it was easy money!"

Ralph tried to make a break for it, but Gine's superhuman reflexes allowed her to catch the rotund weasel by the neck. The Saiyan then roared as she slammed Ralph against the window, pinning him in place with the glass cracking from the effort.

"This is not a day you want to test me!"

Ralph choked out, "Look... maybe... you should... get Earl... instead? Got... no... can't... breathe!"

Gine raised her fist and was ready to break Ralph's arm to punish his incompetence. However, she then caught her reflection in the fractured glass. The Saiyan saw distorted image of herself between the cracks of the window. She saw a selfish thug about to hurt a defenseless man for money he doesn't have. Once Gine saw that, she started to feel self-conscious and ashamed of her behavior.

Taking a deep breath, Gine let go of Ralph, letting him slump to the floor as he began to gasp for air. Gine shook her head and walked over to Ralph's broken desk. Spotting the private eye's wallet amid the splinters, Gine picked it up and pulled out what money he had- a greasy twenty dollar bill, two quarters, and two pennies.

As Gine shoved the money in her pocket, Ralph coughed and told her, "What? Breaking my legs was going too far, but robbing me is okay?"

"You should consider yourself lucky, Disney. Most other mercs would've chopped pieces out of you for every day you don't pay them back. But me, I'm okay with what money you got."

"How very kind of you," Ralph spoke sarcastically as he got back up on his feet, "They should make you a saint for that."

"Don't push it," Gine spoke harshly before making her way to the door. On her way, she grabbed a bottle of rum from one of Ralph's shelf and told him, "And don't expect me to bail you out the next time someone has it out for you."

Ralph looked outright distraught as he watched Gine slam his door on her way out. "I was saving that bottle..."

* * *

After Gine stepped out of the building, she stomped her way back to the parking lot, scaring random pedestrians with her displeased scowl. Once she was near her minivan, Gine pulled the door to the driver's seat wide open before throwing her bottle in the passenger seat. Gine threw herself into her seat and shut the door. The Saiyan groaned as she pressed her head into the steering wheel, causing the car horn to honk loudly as she does.

Objectively, Gine's life now could be seen as an improvement. She was a free agent now with a lucrative source of income and her own ship as a snazzy mobile home. Emotionally, however, Gine never felt more empty.

The love she felt from her husband and sons is no longer there, the homeworld she felt pride for was gone forever, and most days, Gine felt alone in the multiverse. If it wasn't for Aya, this life would've been too much to bear. Gine was reminded of that every time she woke up and found that her beloved wasn't next to her. She was a simple cook then, but now she was a mercenary thug.

And it scared her to how much she had grown to fit that role.

Gine sighed and said to herself, "Where did my life go wrong?"

Gine looked up to see the silver locket she hung up earlier. She sat up and reached her hand out towards it. The Saiyan cradled the object fondly in her palm like it was her own child and opened the locket to see the photos inside. Tears then ran down her cheeks as old memories began to plague her once again. Gine looked over to the bottle in the next seat, grabbed it, and popped the cap open before downing its contents down her throat.

* * *

**Before**

Gine put down her bottle down. She was currently inside the bar on her brother's ship. The room was fully booked with scores of pirates sitting around and drinking their sorrows away. Today was not a good day since Cooler forced them to go on the run, so Gine was going along the current mood.

Her eyes were reddened and dried tears were still on her cheeks. Gine obviously wasn't taking the news of her husband's death well. After Turles told her, Gine felt the need to be alone to mourn. After running out of tears to shed, Gine walked over to the bar in an attempt to sedate the pain she was feeling in her heart. She's been sedating that pain for over an hour now.

Behind her, Turles looked at her with pity in his eyes. He took a seat next to her sister and said, "I thought you don't drink."

Gine sniffled. "I do now," she said somberly before taking another sip.

Turles looked down for a moment before sighing and ordering a drink for himself. "You feel like talking, sis?"

Gine didn't answer. She folded her arms over the bartop before laying her head into them, her face looking away from her brother. The Saiyan woman didn't even look that particularly sad or melancholic. She just looked defeated like she was too numb to feel anything. It was as if all of the energy in her was sucked right out of her, leaving her with an empty void inside her heart.

Once Turles' cup arrived, he delayed taking a sip and told Gine, "You know, when you first told me that you hooked up with Bardock, I thought, 'Sure, why not? He may be a boring stick in the mud, but he's easy on the eyes. Good for maybe a couple nights in bed.' I didn't actually think that relationship would actually go anywhere. Bardock was about as Saiyan as one can be, and you... let's be honest, you were a weakling back then. I honestly thought it was just a sex thing."

"Bardock wasn't like most Saiyans...", Gine said weakly, "I... I loved him..."

"I know," Turles responded with the utmost sincerity, "I think you remember how Bardock and I got along back when we were both in the army. And by that, I mean not at all."

Gine actually smiled. "Yeah... we were in... Tamaran, I think. Both our squads were assigned to take over some port city. We did, and Bardock found a locket after the battle. It was during the first year into our relationship, and Bardock, being the closet romantic that he was, wanted to give it to me for my birthday. Hehe, I remember him being so mad when he found out that it was stolen. I remember him accusing you for the theft. I think he was under the impression that you were only in the army for the loot."

Turles smirked. "What can I say? Old habits die hard."

The Saiyan pirate then took a locket out of his pocket and placed it in front of Gine. She lifted her head to see the locket Bardock described to her all those years ago.

Gine joked, "You sneaky bastard."

Turles shrugged. "Bardock had his faults, but he was sharp one. I nearly pissed myself when he nearly killed me over this."

Gine remembered having to calm Bardock down after he practically assaulted her brother. He felt ashamed of his emotional outburst, not because he harmed Turles, but because he lost his lover's birthday present and took his frustration out on her brother. Gine remembered the look on his face when she met Bardock in private shortly afterward. He actually looked distraught and was apologizing to her profusely. Bardock, the man who nonchalantly took on whole armies on a day-to-day basis, was actually afraid that his screw-up costed him his relationship with the one person he cherished the most. It was the same feeling that Gine felt everyday up until that point, that feeling that she wasn't good enough for this relationship and that it was destined to fail sooner or later.

But once she realized the full extent of her lover's feelings, Gine simply took his hands, placed her hand over his scarred cheek, and said, "I'm not mad at you. You're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but neither am I and that's okay. What we have is good, and I'm not ever going to let this end. I'm willing to fight for this if you are, and... I love you, Bardock. And I always will."

That was the moment that made Gine realized that her relationship with Bardock was genuine and that she was going to spent the rest of her life with the man she loved.

Or at least, that was what would've happened if things didn't turn out the way they did. Teardrops landed on the locket's head as Gine picked it up, cradling in her palm, before opening it to find a picture of her and Bardock together in their house.

It was a few years after Gine had left the army, and by then, she and Bardock were already married and had their first son, Raditz. The child had just returned from his first mission, and Gine remembered feeling very relieved when she saw her baby alive and well. To commemorate that happy occasion, Gine managed to get both Bardock and Raditz together for a family photo. Raditz was sitting on his mother's lap on a couch, looking away and blushing in embarrassment as Gine rested her chin over his wild mane and smiled. Bardock was standing off to the side and crossing his arms, looking stoic and detached. However, Gine knew then that he felt just as happy as she was despite it all.

In that moment in time, Gine felt fulfilled. She had finally made peace with the fact that she wasn't cut out for the military and got a loving family in return. Gine was finally at a place where she felt like she had purpose and knew what she wanted from the rest of her life. The succeeding years would challenge the happiness Gine had found, but the family she had made helped make those hardships worth it.

"And it's still worth it...", Gine thought to herself. The Saiyan looked over to her brother and asked, "Where did you get this?"

"The picture? Believe it or not, Bardock sent me the image digitally a day before... you know. It's as if he knew that I would be there to give this to you."

"Yeah... of course he would," Gine said with a fond smile, "Thank you, Turles. For this, and... for everything. I... thank you."

Turles finally grabbed his cup and raised it in the air. "To family, and the bonds that made us who we are."

Touched, Gine raised her bottle and completed the toast with her big brother. "And to Bardock and all our brothers and sisters who couldn't be here today."

* * *

**Now**

Gine continued to wistfully stare at her old photo, her mouth drooling with booze. She then gazed at the picture next to the family photo, one taken years later with Gine hugging a woman with auburn hair and an embarrassed expression. But again, that's a story for another day.

The Saiyan let the opened locket hang as she raised her bottle. "To not missing you one day," she mumbled pitifully before downing the rest of the rum.

Gine tossed the bottle out the window and decompressed into her seat. Her business with Dibny has finished, so she had nothing else to do right now except use the minivan's D-Drive to travel to Hardcore Station and convert her Earth-1 currency to credits. However, as she started her car, Gine noticed that her head was slightly spinning and her vision began to blur.

The Saiyan mercenary sighed in irritation. She was starting to get tipsy now, and her driving ability became significantly impaired as a result. In the grand scheme of things, a car crash or a ticket wouldn't mean much to her, but Gine promised Aya to stop driving under the influence after that unfortunate incident on Earth-11 involving a genderbent Zatanna and the Rock of Eternity. While the sex that followed was amazing, Gine was pretty sure that she committed manslaughter against an elderly witch. It was best to follow Aya's advice and not risk having another bounty on her head.

She nearly got broke from paying off the last one.

Gine sighed again. "This is embarrassing."

The Saiyan pulled out her phone and was ready to call Aya when she noticed that she received a text from an unknown number. Curious, Gine checked out the text to read:

_Heard you were in town. Meet here if you want a job._

_2001 Sciver Street NE._

_Bring your mask._

"Looks like I'm going out for a walk," Gine shrugged before stepping out the car.

* * *

Meanwhile in STAR Labs, Wally West has taken upon himself to run electrified circles around an elevated racetrack in a room known as the Speed Lab. After he was fully healed from his encounter with Solomon Grundy, the young speedster began to train harder in order to improve on any perceived flaws in himself. Currently, he was working on his endurance in order to maintain longer running speeds before becoming fatigued.

With Barry Allen gone, Wally felt the need to step up in order to become the hero Central City needs. To that end, Iris set up daily training sessions in the Speed Lab for the two powered members of Team Flash. At this point, Vibe and Kid Flash are better than they ever were before, but the loss of Barry was still looming over the remaining members of the team despite their progress, affecting morale.

Iris was also in the Speed Lab and was helping her brother by keeping track of his run time on her phone. Like everyone, she was scarred when Barry offered himself up to the Speed Force, even more so since the hero was her fiance. It was hard keeping her broken heart in check most days, so Iris dealt with it by repressing her pain and presenting a well-adjusted, if cold, persona to the rest of the team. It was all she could do to honor her lover's memory by taking over as the main coordinator of Team Flash... even if she had to give up some of her personal desires in the process.

The two siblings were alone in their training session until the another member the team, Vibe (in his civilian persona of Cisco Ramon), walked into the room.

Iris looked back at him while the timer app on her phone was still running. She eyed him harshly and said, "Where have you been, Cisco? Training started an hour ago."

Cisco responded with a rather tense tone in his voice. "I was busy."

"With that 'secret project' that you've been doting over, I presume?", Iris said with a slightly condescending tone, "You're not in your uniform. Do you actually wanna train today, or are you just going to take another day off?"

Cisco took a deep breath and continued, "Actually, I'm here to tell you and Wally to head to the monitor room. Joe's back from CCPD, and he says he has something tell all of us."

"How important?"

"It's related to yesterday's meta attacks. If you don't remember, one of them involved a zombie Hulk. I'm sure Wally would like to hear all about it," Cisco said pointing the streaks of lightning above his head.

Iris sighed as she stopped her timer and moved over to one of the monitors. She pressed a button that activated the intercom system in the racetrack. "Hey Wally. Dad just came by. He said that he has information about that Grundy situation from yesterday. Mind if we continue this session later?"

A second later, the yellow streak ran out of the track and into Iris and Cisco, blowing small tufts of air into their faces as he stopped. Panting, a very sweaty Wally West said to his sister, "Lead the way."

* * *

Moments later, the core three of Team Flash entered the nexus of STAR Labs. This is the heart of Team Flash's operations as it is here where the support team, mostly Iris these days, run communications to the heroes in the field as well as give invaluable tactical and technical support through the various monitors, computers, and other devices in the room.

Joe was standing next to the main computer as the younger members of his group approached him. With a rather weathered look, he told them, "You guys heard the news?"

"What news?", Iris asked, "Has CCPD caught Grundy already?"

Joe sighed. "He's headed to Iron Heights as we speak."

Cisco perked up. "That's great! One less meta to worry about."

"Uh, yeah. That's... good," Wally mumbled slightly disappointed at the lost opportunity to avenge himself.

But then Iris noticed that her father was visibly antsy about something. She asked, "But that's not all, is it?"

"Yeah...", Joe began to explain, "Here's the thing. CCPD didn't catch Solomon Grundy. He was actually caught and given to us by a government organization called SHADE."

"Who?", Wally asked.

Cisco chimed in. "Wait, I heard of them. The president formed SHADE a few months after the Dominator invasion to defend the country against aliens, magic, and other weird crap. Honestly, I thought they were just a publicity stunt given how quiet they were since then, but I guess they're good for something if they caught a monster like Solomon Grundy."

"Yeah, but why would SHADE bother catching one meta crook for the local police?", Iris asked.

Joe added, "I think I may know why. Captain Singh told me that CCPD is no longer authorized to directly engage with metahumans. The mayor gave that job to SHADE now. The police is reduced to a support role in that area until SHADE can improve our metahuman taskforce to their standards. Supposedly anyway."

The younger three of Team Flash each reacted with the utmost shock. Cisco spoke up. "What?! They can't do that! I'm pretty sure that would be breaking like a ton of laws!"

"Technically they can," Joe reluctantly explained, "Nothing in Central City's constitution said anything specific about metahumans. The only real metahuman specific amendment is the segregation of metas from gen pop in the penal system. Other than that, there aren't any laws or regulations specifically about metahumans, because people didn't think we need any with Team Flash around to stop them. The mayor is probably using the lack of legal clarification to let SHADE do whatever they want."

Iris asked, "So what does that mean for us."

"Well, it's gonna take at least a few days for SHADE to fully set up in Central City. Until then, it's business as usual. But once SHADE actually takes over metahuman operations... I honestly don't know. I mean, since CCPD will be late on the metahuman loop, I won't be able to help you guys as much. You three should be able to operate without SHADE interfering too much, but then again, I'm not too sure if they'll be cool with Team Flash. If SHADE is willing the undermine the entire police department, then I doubt they would like a couple of superheroes they can't control."

"So in other words, we're all at their mercy a few days from now. Is that right?", Iris remarked.

Joe sighed. "Pretty much."

"Have things gone that bad?", Wally asked.

Iris answered, "Well, we haven't been catching metas as well as we used to. I think for every one meta we catch, three escape. That might've drawn SHADE's attention."

Wally looked away and sighed when Cisco spoke up, "I'm not sure that's it."

"What do you mean?", Joe asked.

Cisco walked over the central monitor and picked up a tablet. "I got a feeling something was off about the two meta attacks we had to deal with yesterday, so I've been scouring the web for some intel. I found that Solomon Grundy was in ARGUS custody before someone broke him and a number of villains out. While Grundy was busy busting up that diamond exchange, I had to fight off a bunch of thugs who were attacking an armored truck. Those thugs were being led by a metahuman," Cisco said before pulling up a mugshot of red haired lady with cheetah fur for skin. "Barbara Ann Minerva. There was also a third attack going on at the same time perpetrated by an old friend, who robbed an apartment room and killed all of its occupants," Cisco then brought up surveillance photos of a giant shark man carrying what looks like a box on his finned hand, "Does anyone want to guess what all three of these people have in common?"

Joe's eyes widened. "They were all in ARGUS custody..."

Cisco nodded. "I wasn't sure how all this connected at first, but when you said SHADE was taking over the metahuman department a day after all this... well, the wheels on my head began to turn. I don't wanna sound like that guy from  _Ancient Aliens,_ but this can't be a coincidence, right?"

Wally questioned, "So you're saying SHADE had something to do with all these metas getting out?"

"I mean, it's a possibility right? SHADE was able to catch Grundy way too quickly after he escaped CCPD with that flying woman. They had to have leveraged that to get the mayor to hand them the meta cases."

"Which they did," Joe supported his claim.

Iris was little doubtful, however. "Yeah, but what would SHADE have to gain by releasing dangerous metas and then catching them for the police? It can't just be to replace CCPD."

Wally responded, "I know it all sounds crazy, Iris, but think about all that's happened over the years. A government agency involved in some kind of foul play is kinda at the low end of the weirdness scale, and if they have something planned for the city..."

Cisco chimed in, "And they're literally one letter off from 'shady'. Just saying."

Iris sighed as she rubbed the sides of her head. "It's only been a couple of months since Savitar, and now we have a government conspiracy in our hands?", she took a much needed moment to breathe, "Okay, before we decide to ride the conspiracy train, we need more intel. Cisco, what can you tell us about the remaining two metas?"

"Well, Minerva escaped and thank God for that. I barely survived that fight. And King Shark managed to escape too. Unfortunately for us, we don't have any means to track them down. The metahuman alert app is turning up nothing, so they're in the wind."

"Damn," Wally cursed, "So we have nothing to go on?"

Joe then remembered the thing Singh told him to bring to Team Flash. He felt the item on his coat and told them, "Not necessarily. Wally, do you remember that masked woman who fought Grundy?"

"Yeah. You told me she beat up Grundy before escaping with him on a spaceship."

Cisco asked, "A spaceship? What, like the  _Waverider?"_

"Pretty much," Joe answered.

Iris asked her father, "Do you think she's with SHADE?"

"Maybe. If we're going with the 'SHADE is responsible for escaped metas' theory, then it's likely that our mystery woman dropped Grundy off to them. And thanks to Captain Singh," Joe said before pulling out a plastic bag with the woman's broken mask in it, "We have a lead on her."

Cisco's face lit up as he grabbed this miracle in a ziploc bag. He turned to his compatriots and remarked, "Okay Alice, let's see where this rabbit hole goes."

* * *

**Location Unknown**

Director Lazuli Lawrence was busied herself to the basement of her new forward base as her people started to set equipment on the upper levels. She was on her desk, working on a laptop. The SHADE director was writing a report to her superiors in the Pentagon when an email pop-up appeared in the corner of her screen. Lazuli stopped typing and eyed the username of the person who sent the message.

Sentinel.

The message header said,  _Progress Report: Magic 99._

Lazuli immediately minimized her document, pausing her work, before clicking on the email and reading the message. It read:

_My assignment is running smooth. No complications yet. However, the Society is about to make a big move. I recommend we make a strike against their Factory ASAP. Cripple their forces. I can't reveal the location without compromising my position, but I heard that someone called "The Judge" may be able to help in that department. I will continue my mission as normal, but you better act quick. Drache is not giving up on the artifacts any time soon, and they are willing to go through Central City to get them._

Once Lazuli was finished reading her operative's report, she deleted the email for security purposes. Despite the deletion, the email's message was burned into the SHADE director's mind. "This is getting out of hand," she thought ruefully.

In all honesty, the SHADE director's rather cavalier plan to defend these so-called artifacts threatened to turn Central City into a warzone. In fact, the situation was steadily getting worse if those three public attacks from three of her enemy's metahumans is anything to go by. One of them, King Shark she believes, even came close to getting one of the artifacts when he broke into one of SHADE's safehouses, killed the stationed agents, and got away with a decoy. If things go wrong, many innocents could die and that would be on Lazuli.

"But I need to nail the ringleaders as soon as possible," Lazuli tried to justify to herself, "If the enemy gets the artifacts, then they're a few steps away from unleashing the apocalypse. I can't afford to scour the globe for the entire Society, so I need them where I can see them and they'll only do that if they know the artifacts are in this city. Hopefully I can neutralize their leader, Drache, before they cause too much damage. But still... the Judge? I can't believe I'm even considering making a deal with that devil. How far am I willing to go for this mission?"

Lazuli then looked over to see a framed photo she placed next to her computer. The picture took place on a California beach in a bright summer day. Lazuli can be seen in civilian garb smiling as she sits on a sun chair with a little blonde girl on her lap, both of whom were smiling widely to the camera. Next to them was an Asian little person who had his hand wrapped over Lazuli's shoulders as he smiled along.

Lazuli stroked her fingers along the glass as she said, "I guess I'll find out."

She picked up her phone and called her other ongoing contact. After a few moments of buzzing, Aya picked up the call.  _"Director Lawrence?"_

"Aya. I need some information on a place known as 'the Factory'. I'll be sending the necessary intel soon, but for right now, I would like you to arrange a meeting... with the Court of Owls."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down. Admittedly, it doesn't have any action in it (unless you count Gine roughing up Ralph Dibny). Hopefully you like the plot stuff though.
> 
> As you saw, the part of Libby Lawrence (AKA Liberty Belle) shall be played by Android 18's Earth-1 doppelganger. Why did I decide to combine those characters, you ask? Firstly, I like 18 and wanted to write for her, but I also wanted to do some world-building for Earth-1 and both of Lazuli's component parts will help set up a few aspects of that world. It will involve a team that once existed from the past, a few famous characters, and mythology related to said characters.
> 
> As for Lazuli Lawrence herself, I want her to resemble her Earth-107 counterpart in general demeanor and personality, but those aspects of herself will be expressed a little differently as Earth-1 Lazuli has a different backstory to Earth-107 Lazuli. Earth-1 Lazuli is still a cyborg with similar abilities and power level, but how she became a cyborg is completely different as well as her general life story. In short, this Lazuli's backstory mirrors the one from canon, but diverges at enough points that it affected her mindset, tactics, and even her personal and family life.
> 
> When it comes to villains, I originally intended them to be a version of the Extremists, DC's pastiche of Marvel's Masters of Evil. My original vision had them be an army of faceless mooks, demons, and only a handful of competent guys. While the modernized Tolkien aesthetic was entertaining at the time, I now want a villain group that afforded me the opportunity to use actual supervillains more with minimal mooks, so I decided to adapt a version of the Secret Society of Supervillains instead.
> 
> The leader of this group, "Drache", was never a member of this group in the comics, but is related to a Society member who showed up in the Arrowverse. Despite these changes, I still intend on having my original Big Bad present in the story. He just won't be showing up until the next arc and will just be alluded to for now. And as for the Court of Owls, well, they're not gonna be as prominent as the Society when all is said and done, but they will forward the plot in rather interesting directions.
> 
> Also, that auburn haired lady will be important later in the past segments. Not saying how at this point in time. 
> 
> That's enough notes for now. Thanks for the read and have a nice day!


	5. The Blacksmith's Offer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amunet Black has summoned Gine for a seemingly straightforward job at the docks. Meanwhile, Team Flash makes a discovery that gets them closer to finding out more about the enigmatic Saiyan.

It was late afternoon in Central City.

Gine was walking through the streets of this city's less than reputable side. The Saiyan was still in her casual clothes and with her hood on to blend in with the crowd. She was nearing the Blacksmith, the bar/abandoned boxing ring owned by Amunet Black, a metahuman and a major player of Central City's criminal underground.

Amunet's specialty was in the trafficking of advanced tech. Her people were responsible for much of the tech thefts in recent times, and she has made quite the profit in selling everything from advanced supercomputers to prototype military weapons to the highest bidder. The police ran themselves ragged trying to dismantle her organization for months, but she always seemed to be one step ahead of them. It doesn't help that she is also a powerful metahuman with several other metas working under her. Amunet is indeed a figure worthy to be feared. However, Gine has known and faced beings much worse than a metahuman crime boss.

She stepped through the doors and entered the seedy bar. The Saiyan mercenary has been in this business for a while now, so she knew the unofficial drill. She walked over to the bartop and took a seat.

Gine eyed the bartender, a cute brunette who looked too innocent to be a part of this scummy hive. She called to her, "Barkeep. A Rusty Nail on the rocks."

"Rusty Nail. Coming up," the bartender responded back as she picked up a glass from under the bartop.

This was the part where Gine had to wait until Amunet sent one of her thugs for her. She already noticed one of them eyeing her intently before walking towards a door guarded by a large man. It's only a matter of time now.

The bartender suddenly felt a slap on her rear, eliciting a shocked yelp from the surprised woman. Gine narrowed her eyes to the bald, wrinkly biker sitting next to her, who was laughing at the poor girl's expense.

The bartender glared at him and said, "Seriously?!"

He snickered. "That was a compliment, baby. I couldn't resist with an ass like yours! Haha!"

The bartender scowled, but took a deep breath. She handed Gine her drink and tried to distance herself from the laughing biker by going for an empty glass on the other side of the bartop.

Once the biker's laughter died down, Gine took a sip of her drink and told the man, "You're a piece of shit."

The biker stopped smiling and glared scarred woman. "What did you say?"

Gine took another sip. "You heard me, asshole."

The man exhaled and said, "You don't want to screw with me, bitch. Do you have any idea who I am?"

Gine swirled her cup and answered casually, "You're Ned Creegan, AKA the Cyclonic Man. You're a D-list criminal who can shoot energy out of his hands, but somehow found a way to be less competent than the Royal Flush Gang."

Fuming in anger, Ned stood from his chair and looked down at the badmouthing Saiyan. His arms began to glow in red energy, but Gine ignored his temper tantrum to sip her glass. He told her, "If you really know who I am, then you would know that it's a bad idea to piss me off. So are you gonna shut the fuck up, or do I have to fry your ass?"

Gine sighed and placed her glass on the bartop. She spoke grimly, "I'm only gonna say this once. Apologize to the barkeep, and back off. Otherwise I'll break your face."

Ned laughed. "The balls on you, lady. I ought to add a burn to your fucked up face. That should tea...", before Ned could complete his rant, a gust of wind suddenly came over his face. When it was gone, the biker's face was suddenly covered in blood. With a pitiful wheeze, the lesser villain tumbled into his back as he lost consciousness.

Gine picked her glass back up to finish her drink. The bartender, and indeed the entire bar, stared at the Saiyan mercenary. The brunette smiled at Gine. "Thanks for the assist."

Gine blushed as she tried to avoid the bartender's grateful gaze. "I didn't do it for you," Gine scoffed as she got up to pat down the unconscious man's pockets. She lifted his wallet off him and said, "He... owed me money."

"Right...", the bartender said as she took Gine's glass.

The Saiyan sighed and said under her breath, "Now everybody's staring at me. Is the blush? Are they questioning my 'badass status'? Damn it! This is embarrassing! Someone. Save me!"

A rough looking man with a glass eye then came up to Gine. "Thank the gods!"

The thug noticed the unconscious body near the mercenary and asked, "Your doing?"

With her back behind him, Gine quickly slapped herself on her cheeks with both hands before turning around and scoffing, "He annoyed me."

The man chuckled as he looked down at the beaten metahuman. He then returned his gaze to Gine. "Follow me."

The two walked to the guarded door in the back, which was opened for them by the big guard.

The Saiyan mercenary was now in Amunet Black's 'business room'. The metahuman crime boss was currently sitting near the edge of her very own boxing ring as her eyes were glued to the sight of two shirtless and muscular men punching each other for her amusement. Even Gine was drawn to the show as she let out an amused chuckle. The Saiyan might be a heartbroken widow, but she's not dead.

Not yet, anyway.

The eccentric looking Amunet noticed both her point man and the mercenary she invited were approaching her. With her cheery demeanor still on, she called to the men on the ring, "Ding ding ding! That's a wrap, boys! Go hit the showers, mama has some business to attend to."

The men stopped their match and walked off the ring as soon as possible. Amunet got off her chair and approached Gine with a deceptively friendly smile. She took the Saiyan woman off-guard by taking her hand and shaking it. "You must be the famous Gine that I've heard so much about. I mean, I assume that's you under the hood. You brought your mask, right?"

Gine removed her hand from Amunet's as she reached under her jacket and pulled out her mask for the crime boss to see. Amunet peered over it like a kid in a candy store and said, "Oooh... scary. Some of my 'friends' say that you're an alien, a Saiyan I believe they said. Tell me, what does 'Gine' mean in your native tongue?"

Gine sighed. "It means 'spring onion'."

"Onion?", Amunet said as she looked a the mercenary with a disappointed look, "That doesn't sound like much of a codename."

"That's 'cause it's not. It's my birth name."

"Then why do you even bother wearing a mask if you're not hiding your identity?"

Gine shrugged. "It makes me look cool."

Amunet shrugged back. "Fair enough, I guess. But might I suggest a codename? I'm quite good at coming up with them, and I'll even give one to you for free. What about... Powerhouse? No, Manhunter. Sounds nice, yeah?"

Gine groaned. Amunet's top thug then chimed in, "Before you talk business, I gotta tell you that Gine here laid out one of our guys."

"That so?", she responded, "Which one?"

"Ned Creegan."

Amunet shrugged. "At least it's no one important. That wanker always found a way to get on my bad side. I was gonna shank him tonight, actually, for ogling my best girl. Hopefully he learns a good lesson about sexual harrassment in the workplace, otherwise he'll just have to fondle all the girls he wants in Hell! Hehe! But still... I don't appreciate some outsider attacking my people out in the open. It sends out the wrong message to the wrong people. So I have to ask, why did you do it?"

The metahuman's tone suddenly turned dark when she asked Gine this. However, the Saiyan didn't flinch at this attempt at intimidation. She simply looked Amunet dead in the eye and told her, "I just felt like beating on something pathetic."

The air was silent for a moment. Tense.

Then Amunet laughed out loud. "Oh, I'm gonna like you," she then looked over at her point man, "Take Cyclonic Man back to his sorry excuse of an apartment, Norvock. Make sure he wakes up on that cesspool he calls a floor."

The snake-eyed meta nodded reluctantly and stepped out the boxing ring with two thugs along with him.

Amunet prompted Gine to follow her into her office. Once they were inside, Amunet shut the door behind her and motioned to Gine. "Come. Sit."

Gine complied and took a chair in front of Amunet's desk. The metahuman mob boss took her own seat behind her desk and said, "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is simple. One of my informants told me that a shipment of advanced weapons and tech is coming over from Santa Prisca. I'd like you to hit the docks near the old canning factory and kill the delivery boys for me."

"Not a fan of the military, I assume."

"I take offense to that statement," Amunet said with a faux hurt tone, "I actually love the army! Tech companies make such wonderful goodies for them, and without that, I'd be out of a job! Besides, this particular shipment is not what you would call a 'legal transport'."

Gine looked on intrigued. "Continue."

"You see, I have a rather firm grip in this city's underworld. Every player here knows what I am about, and they know better than to stick their noses into my business. This hasn't always been the case, naturally. I had to bury a lot of people to make that point, and it seems I have to bury a few more, if you catch my drift."

"So who do you want to bury?"

"Enforcers working for Gotham City's deadliest luchador, Bane," Amunet told her intently, "Rumor has it that he's bringing his people over to my city. If that shipment of advanced tech is anything to go by, he's looking to expand, and I don't like that."

"Bane, huh? I heard about that bastard. Didn't he break Batman's back that one time?"

Amunet groaned. "Yes! He broke some wacko in a batsuit! Everyone always keeps talking about how he broke Batman's back, but he's never been able to get one over him ever since. It's pathetic! Take about peaking past your prime, right?"

"Is that a hint of jealousy I see, Amunet?", Gine teased with a wry grin.

Amunet scowled. "Cute. I assume that means you don't want my money, hm?

Gine's smile dropped. "Nevermind..."

With a satisfied chuckle, Amunet continued, "Their ship will be docking tonight. I want you to kill everyone on board but keep the goods intact. Understood?"

"Gotcha," Gine nodded.

"And for your trouble, I will pay you a sum of a hundred thousand HS credits. You universe jumping types prefer that currency, yes?"

"You heard right. Make it two hundred thousand and we have a deal."

Amunet narrowed her eyes. "One fifty."

"One eighty."

"One seventy."

Gine then narrowed her eyes at Amunet for a moment. Likewise, the metahuman crime boss was staring back with the determination of a stalking lioness. After a moment of contemplation, Gine said, "Deal."

"I'm glad that we have understanding," Amunet said with a pleased smile, "But if it's not too much trouble, I would like to send one of my people to accompany you."

"I work better alone."

"I gathered as much, but no offense, I don't trust you. The stories I hear, the ones my associates in Hardcore Station tell about you, say that you're powerful but reckless. One of those stories included taking down half a city in one night during a simple hostage rescue in... Rann, I think it was. While that is impressive, I would prefer to send someone to keep you in line. It's my money after all."

"I already have someone for that," Gine retorted annoyed.

"Good for you, but I don't know them. You will work with my girl and keep her alive. Otherwise, you can kiss those credits goodbye."

Gine growled. In her mind, there were two options. The first was to say no, waste the time she spent coming to this damn city, and feel better about it by blowing up this joint with an energy ball. That was her first instinct. Thankfully for everyone in the building who is not a nigh invulnerable Saiyan warrior, Gine remembered what Aya told her.

'Be more careful around buildings.'

And so, Gine picked the second option. She took a deep breath and thought to herself, "Perhaps I could stand to practice my self-control."

She asked Amunet, "Who are you sending?"

"An icy demoness named Killer Frost," she spoke with some dramatic flair.

"Killer Frost, eh? Interesting," Gine mumbled to herself before walking towards the door, "I'm gonna get my work clothes. Tell your girl to not keep me waiting. Saiyans get antsy when they have to wait for a fight."

"I'll be sure to let her know," Amunet said as she watched Gine step out the door. She then picked up a flash drive from her desk and spoke to herself, "I wonder what else I could buy with these things."

* * *

Meanwhile in STAR Labs, Cisco was currently in his workshop holding a fragment of Gine's mask with a pair of twisers. He then placed the fragment into an advanced processor connected to a computer. After activating the composition analysis program in his computer, the machine began breaking down the fragment and identifying its components.

While the program was running, Iris walked into the room. She told Cisco, "Dad volunteered to act as the police liaison to SHADE. He's currently using that appointment to ask some questions."

With his eyes still glued to the computer program, Cisco asked, "And Wally?"

"Went out on a patrol with Nate. I think he just wants to get away from STAR Labs for a bit. Blow off some steam, you know?"

"Can't say I blame him," Cisco said offhandedly.

Iris glared at him. "What does that supposed to mean?"

Cisco closed his eyes and cursed himself internally. With a resigned sigh, he responded, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Iris simply shook her head and continued, "Anyway, how's the mask lead coming along. Any progress?"

"I'm currently analyzing the mask's components to see what it's made out of. With any luck, it will lead us to some place that we could investigate. I tried to look at the circuitry and tech implanted in the mask," Cisco said as he pointed at the mess of wires attached to cracked lenses in the space next to him, "But I honestly can't get anything useful out of it."

Iris eyed him funny. "What do you mean? I thought tech was your thing."

"Yeah, but I've never seen a simple face mask have that much technology embedded into it. It's got a sophisticated HUD, scanners, infrared, night vision, a built-in communication device, a network router, and a mess of other gizmos that were too broken to analyze. Frankly, the amount of miniaturization required to fit all of that into mask is nearly impossible. The only one who could manage all that is Ray and his ATOM suit, but last time I checked, he wasn't sharing that tech with anyone."

"You think this woman might be from the future?"

Cisco shrugged. "Anything's possible. Although, I think that she might be from another Earth in all honesty."

"Dad actually thinks that she might be an alien. I mean, she does have a spaceship."

"So do the Legends," Cisco stated as his composition analysis has finished, "Okay, let's see what we got. Our mystery lady's mystery mask is made out of... carbon fiber. Well, that narrows it down."

"Just carbon fiber?", Iris asked slightly underwhelmed, "Is it like a special weave of carbon fiber developed by Wayne Industries? Or carbon fiber laced with something exotic, like promethium or dark matter? Or a metal that is stronger than steel yet somehow lighter for whatever reason?"

"Nope. Just regular carbon fiber that you'd find in a bike from Walmart. I'm just as confused and disappointed as you are, Iris."

Iris rubbed her temples in frustration. "So we have a mask with a bunch of tech that is too advanced for any company or country to develop, but is also made out of a material so generic that finding a single manufacturer would just be straight-up impossible. Is that what you're saying?"

"Pretty much," Cisco said as Iris exhaled in frustration. The young scientist then walked over the box where he kept the rest of the mask fragments. "Not to worry. All is not lost. We still have one last clue to look at," Cisco then picked up a big fragment that had a noticeable red stain stuck to one side of it, "There's some dried blood stuck to the mask. If the mask is a dead end, then we simply play a game of 'match the DNA' and hope that she's on the system."

"Something tells me that it won't be the case."

"Maybe, but it's all we got left," Cisco said before scrapping the blood off the fragment and placing it into a petri dish. He then walked over to a different computer and placed the dish in a DNA processor before running another analysis program.

Iris wistfully spoke, "I wish Caitlin was still around. She might've helped us make sense of how exactly our masked woman's powers worked."

Cisco sighed. "Yeah, I miss her too."

The program then ran its course. But when it projected a 3D image of the subject's DNA, it displayed a DNA strand with six helices rather than the standard two.

Iris raised her eyebrows and pointed at the weird looking DNA strand. "I may not be a biologist, but that doesn't look like DNA to me."

Cisco's eyes widened as worked his computer to try to make sense of what he's seeing. "It has the same molecular composition of DNA, but yeah. This structure is, like, all kinds of weird."

"Did dark matter do all this?"

Cisco's lips fluttered as he exhaled. "Dark matter can do a lot of things, but it can't magically conjure up four more DNA helices. Metahumans are still human after all, and a six helix structure is beyond human."

"And that means?"

Cisco flattened himself into the back of his seat. "Our mystery woman is an alien, after all."

* * *

**Before**

Gine was in the guest room her brother provided for her. It was a rather small and cozy space with a bunk bed in the corner and a tiny closet to the side.

The Saiyan was busy packing supplies in a couple of dufflebags. At this point, Gine was just trying to forget the grief that was aching her heart by devoting herself entirely on her current task, not that she had much success in avoiding thoughts of her dead husband.

Turles was leaning next to the doorframe as he told his sister, "You sure this is how you want things to go?"

Gine nodded weakly as she zipped one of her bags closed. "Yeah. I can't stay here, Turles. Let's be honest, I won't be any use to you or your rebellion. I'll only slow you down."

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Gine."

Gine sighed. "I appreciate your encouragement, I really do. But you're overestimating my value. Big time."

"I don't think I am," Turles answered as he stepped out of the doorframe and towards his sister, "People used to say the same things about me, Gine. They said that I was weak. A waste of space. Useful only as cannon fodder. They said I couldn't amount to anything, but look at me now. I'm the captain of my own ship and leader of a rebellion that will tear the Cold Force down. If something like that was possible for me, then there's hope for you."

"Again, I appreciate it. But I'm just not like you, brother. I don't have your drive, your passion. You had the courage to strike out from the army and make a name for yourself. I was too scared to be anything other than a grunt or a servant. I'm still scared, even after... everything. I just want my kids back. They're all I have left of... him."

Turles sighed. "I feel you, sis. Kakarot is just a baby. He's going to need his mother. But how are you going to get to Raditz? He survived our planet's destruction, but he's still with Frieza's forces. How are you going to get to him?"

Gine zipped her last back and turned to face her brother. "I was hoping you would help me with that."

Turles raised his brow. "Help you, how?"

"I can't get to Raditz on my own. I know that, but maybe you can send him a message? Tell him that his brother and I are alive, and he can live with us on Earth. If he wants to, that is..."

Turles sighed. "I don't know, Gine. I'm a wanted criminal, and the Cold Force is after me..."

"Please...", Gine said with a begging pout.

There was a small blush in Turles' cheek as he looked away in embarrassment. He could never say no to his sister when she gets like this. The Saiyan pirate sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

Gine let out a small smile. She hugged her brother and said, "Thank you."

Turles composed himself and awkwardly patted Gine on the back. "Anything for you, little sis."

Once the two separated, Turles let out a small cough and said, "I should really get back to my office. I have a rebellion to manage after all."

"Good luck," Gine nodded as Turles stepped out of her room. Once her brother was gone, however, Gine's smile dropped as she looked away and sighed. Her heartache is acting up again. Gine held her hand over her chest as she struggled to hold back the tears.

Back in Planet Vegeta, Gine would always worry for Bardock whenever he was deployed off-planet. She was confident of her husband's strength and always knew that he would come back to her, but that didn't stop the Saiyan woman from worrying about his safety. Gine's biggest fear back then was that he would die on assignment and that she would be left all alone in their planet. But now that happened, and Gine doesn't even have her planet anymore.

Gine always knew that the death of her husband would be painful, but nothing could ever prepare her for the sheer realization that he was gone forever. That she would never feel his arms around her anymore. That she would never see him smile again or tell her that everything will be alright in a way that only he could. The love of her life is dead, and she has no one blame but herself... and Frieza.

As tears ran down her cheeks, Gine's face warped from sorrow to anger as dark thoughts filled her mind. "Damn him! We served him loyally for years! Bardock served him loyally for years! And this is the thanks we get?"

Gine's thoughts only twisted further from there. "He shouldn't be living! Frieza should be the one be the one dead in the void, not my Bardock! I wish I could kill him! I wish I can make suffer for everything he put us through! But... I can't. I'm just too weak. Too weak to avenge my husband. I'm not worthy to be called a Saiyan. I don't deserve... anything..."

Gine simply broke down after that. She placed her hands over her eyes as she cried. The Saiyan woman was reduced to her knees as she was reduced to a sobbing wreck.

Gine continued crying for a few more moments. When she was finished, Gine stood back up on her knees as she wiped the tears from her face. "What did Bardock ever see in me...", she thought.

After getting her huffed breathing under control, Gine stood up and looked down sadly at the floor with reddened eyes. However, she then saw a figure standing next to the door in her peripheral vision. Startled, Gine snapped to see that it was Aya staring at her with an emotionless gaze.

The Saiyan woman shuffled back a couple steps before calming herself down with a deep breath. She asked the AI nervously, "H-Hello. How can I help you?"

Aya didn't answer. She simply walked out of the room.

Gine was left perplexed by what just happened. Whether it is through simple curiosity or a need to keep her mind away from her grief, the Saiyan woman walked out of her room and began tailing the android.

* * *

**Now**

Gine shook out of her haze. She readjusted her eyes to see that she was now on top of a roof in a skyscraper and sitting on the edge with a flask of vodka in her hand. The Saiyan was now in her armor with her mask placed off to the side.

It was nighttime now, and from Gine's perspective, the city below seemed to light up like a Christmas tree. Gine was currently in the heart of Central City, so the surrounding lights was so bright that they seem to shield her from the coming darkness. The Saiyan's eyes then drifted to towards the edge of the city, where she could see a faintly shimmering body of water. The area surrounding it was far from the busy lights of the more rich and developed parts of the city. As business hours there were long past now, the docks seemed sheathed in darkness, its buildings seeming to be like the jagged rocks of the shore from the top of the skyscraper.

In those jagged rocks were the boringly ineffectual goons of some Gotham mobster trafficking weapons or some crap like that, and a possibly psychotic, possibly unreliable supervillainess as her assigned partner for the job. In other words, it was a night in the life of a Saiyan mercenary, and Gine was certainly in no hurry to get to it.

"I need to finish my drink first," Gine thought to herself, "Amunet's not paying me enough to do this job sober."

When Gine lifted her flask into her mouth, however, she was only met by a few drops of alcohol. Confused, the Saiyan tried to tap the bottom of her flask to pull out more booze. When no drops were spilled, Gine looked closely into flask's hole with one eye to see a clearly empty bottom.

"Goddamnit," Gine sighed as she tossed her flask back to the roof. The Saiyan then slumped down on her seat as a irritated grimace was set on her face. "I should really charge for mission sobriety."

She had no more alcohol on her, so Gine had to go to the docks now. "What a drag," she muttered before putting on her mask and throwing herself off the roof.

The Saiyan propelled herself forward through her ki flight technique as she raced across the blinding lights of the city. Although the building Gine was sitting on was several blocks away from the docks, she was closing that distance in a manner of minutes and that's just her cruising speed. Her destination was only seconds away, and Gine couldn't help but grin at the prospect of working with Killer Frost again.

"I wonder which Killer Frost I'm working with this time? I bet it's Louise Lincoln. It's always her."

Six years ago, maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter than the others, but that's because I want to improve my publishing time by cutting the word count per chapter. I'm aiming for 4-6k for now with 8k being my intended maximum for now.
> 
> Don't worry. You're not gonna miss out on any content. It's just gonna be coming up in shorter chapters and quicker than normal (hopefully).
> 
> No more notes this time. I hope you liked what you read and have a nice day.


	6. Memories of a Lantern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Navigation computer. Manhunter Queen. Green Lantern.
> 
> Aya has been all of these things over the course of her complicated life. As the AI negotiates with the Court of Owls, she recalls the the experiences that made her the person she is today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I made a relatively small change. After days of thinking, I decided to just ditch the omniverse concept. It ultimately overcomplicates things and it would make future crossovers in Universe 7 too difficult for my liking considering that I will incorporate the Source Wall into the story at some point, which would make extra-multiversal travel difficult to say the least. The Dragon Ball universes are now designated Earths 101 to 112, although the natives of those universes refer to them by their canon names.
> 
> To circumvent the Dragon Ball mythos in this arc, I instead devised a sort of "divine sovereignty" system, where the various gods of the multiverse only have influence over their own respective worlds. Some of these cosmic beings, such as the Omni-Kings of Dragon Ball, are powerful enough to hold sway over more than one universe, but as a rule, the gods can't interfere with the affairs of other universes without permission or consequence.
> 
> That should be it for beginning notes, however, I have to inform you that this chapter will contain a suicide attempt and some suicidal thoughts. If you are sensitive about this, I wouldn't recommend reading beyond this point. Just letting you know now. I hope you find the next chapter more amenable.
> 
> If you're still with me, let us begin.

__**Gotham City**

Over the night sky of America's most crime-ridden city, a cloaked starship was cruising high above the buildings as it flew across several blocks in a manner of minutes. The  _Interceptor_ then slowed before coming to a complete stop as it hovered over an unassuming warehouse near the slums.

The dimension-hopping ship then launched an eye probe in the direction of warehouse, which engaged its cloaking systems the second it was sent flying off the _Interceptor._ Once the Aya program took direct control of the probe, it discreetly flew to the side of the building, where it landed next to a trash bin near the back exit. After scanning to see that there were no humans within her immediate vicinity, Aya disengaged the cloaking device before projecting her hard-light, human avatar to disguise the rather conspicuous eye probe.

When she was sure of that the projection's form is perfect, Aya rubbed her forehead and asked herself, "Why am I doing this? This violating so many ethical guidelines."

Actually, Aya could totally believe that she was doing this. There was almost nothing that the AI wouldn't do for Gine. There were limits, of course. Aya tried her best to keep the Saiyan on the straight and narrow, but the AI was often dragged into the intrigues of Gine's chosen profession. Aya felt like she was enabling her friend's antics most days, which drove her crazy more often than not. Considering Aya was currently arranging a meeting with a group of rich cultists with a bird fetish, today definitely counted as one of those days.

"The things I do for her," Aya thought before opening the door next to her and entering the building.

The inside of the warehouse was barren with only skeletons of shelves to fill the empty expanse. The air was damp and dusty, and the area was almost pitch black. The AI activated her night vision to illuminate with darkness with a tint of green light. Aya cautiously began to walk around the warehouse in search of her contact. While this scenario sounded like the beginning of a found footage movie, Aya was not really in any real danger. It was a common practice for agents of the Court to lurk around for a good few minutes before starting negotiations. They would hide good enough to avoid being sighted but be close enough to unnerve any potential associate as a sort of power play.

Aya, however, simply stopped next to a window that shined down a ray of moonlight and called out, "If you plan to intimidate me, I'm afraid to say that I am immune to your scare tactics. Step into the light. Now."

After a few moments of tense silence, a slim figure jumped out of the rafters before grabbing ahold of one of the shelves and safely landing on his feet. The man wore a black suit and a black and yellow owl mask along with a leather bandolier across his chest and a plethora of knives all over his person. This man was not just an agent for the Court. He was a Talon, an elite undead assassin that served as one of the Court's chief enforcers.

The Talon spoke in a stoic tone. "You best remember whose city you're standing in, outsider. Your life may depend on it."

"That so?", Aya said holding back her contempt for the Talon's organization, "I assume your masters told you that my true form is the cloaked ship I am controlling outside. The one whose weapons are currently pointed at this location."

"And  _you_ best remember that the Court will only deal with those who show us the proper respect," the Talon countered, "We do have the information your people seek after all."

" _They_ are not my people," Aya sighed, "But I see your point. I apologize."

The Talon ignored the AI's pleasantries and asked bluntly, "Where is this 'Saiyan' the Court has told me about?"

"Gine? She is indisposed at the moment. I was asked to speak in her stead."

"That is unacceptable. My masters have instructed me to only discuss terms with the Saiyan."

Irritated, Aya said, "I speak on behalf of SHADE! They hired Gine to obtain the information in the first place."

"We don't care," Talon affirmed, "The Court demands the Saiyan Gine and no one else. Have her meet us alone in the cafe of the Orchard Hotel tomorrow night if you still desire the information we possess."

"But-"

"We are done here," Talon spoke before turning back and walking into the shadows. And like that, he was gone.

Aya tried to find him through her advanced sensors. Unfortunately, the Talon seemed to have completely disappeared much to the AI's confusion. Aya grumbled, "I now understand why Hal hates working with Batman. How rude."

With the meeting concluded, Aya walked out of the warehouse before disengaging her disguise and recalling the probe back to the  _Interceptor._ When her full consciousness returned to the ship, Aya began to think deeply about her situation as she ruminates the botched meeting.

With Gine out, Aya had to wait the entire night before looping her into this operation. Knowing her, the Saiyan was probably too busy being drunk or causing the kind of trouble that was best handled alone. That provided Aya with plenty of time for what Razer calls 'peaceful contemplation'.

To that end, Aya's thoughts drift to more... troubled times.

* * *

**Back in the Day**

_"Say goodnight, my puppet," a pale skinned alien woman said as she was rearranging a paralyzed Aya's back panel._

_"Is this really... the end?", Aya thought as she felt her consciousness slowly drift away._

_The alien warlord, Atrocitus, and his Red Lanterns had used her to sneak past the Guardians' defenses with the Interceptor Mk. 1 in order to reach their homeworld, Oa, unimpeded. One of Atrocitus' allies, the criminal and hacker- Drusa, managed to seize control of Aya's systems and was in the process of making the android her mindless slave._

_"Hal... I'm sorry...", Aya thought with regret._

_In the short time that she spent with Hal Jordan and his allies, Aya felt like a person for the first time in her entire existence. The Interceptor crew had treated her as more than just a machine. She was an equal, a valued ally... and a friend. Although Aya didn't always show it, she cherished the time she spent with Hal, Kilowog, and especially Razer._

_Razer... for some reason, Aya always felt a closer connection to him than anyone else in this makeshift family. During their time together, Aya had gotten to know more about the noble, if temperamental, resident of the Forgotten Zone._

_Aya first met Razer back when he was still with the Red Lanterns. He was the Green Lanterns' prisoner at the time. Razer had been captured after he destroyed the homeworld of the late Green Lantern, Shyir Rev, by the orders of Atrocitus himself. But from her first conversation she had with him, Aya found that he was far from a genocidal follower of Atrocitus' cult of rage. Razer seemed to have felt remorse for seemingly killing all the colonists on the planet he destroyed to the point where the Red Lantern felt that he should die for his crime. Aya didn't understand Razer's thoughts on the matter at first, but during the Red Lantern's incarceration in the very unethical Spider Guild prison, the AI delved into his memories through a machine his cruel wardens placed on him to make him relive his most painful memories._

_She discovered that Razer was once lived in the planet Volkreg, a world torn apart by the local warlords. Razer was a member of his colony's militia, and Aya learned of his desire to make his planet a better place for his beloved wife, Ilana. When she was seemingly killed by the warlords, Razer succumbed to his rage and was chosen by Atrocitus to become one of his agents of vengeance. After freeing Razer and rescuing her Green Lantern comrades, Aya understood why the Red Lantern turned out the way he did._

_Feeling the need to atone for his sins, Razer agreed to join Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and Kilowog in their quest to stop Atrocitus. While their partnership was far from perfect, Aya grew to know the Red Lantern defector better during the time they had spent during and in between missions. Despite his brooding and standoffish attitude, Razer was a man determined to right his wrongs and make sure that no else would have to suffer for his sins. He was a fierce and ruthless warrior, but he was also a loyal comrade to those who have earned his trust. Aya felt drawn to that part of Razer's personality._

_As the two grew close during their missions together, Aya felt... something for him. The AI couldn't recognize what, but it was there whenever the two fought side-by-side, or during their talks in the Interceptor, or even during the times Razer had shown kindness to her, such as the time he had thanked her for making an alternate Red Lantern oath to replace the one Atrocitus taught him. Even though_ _that oath didn't ultimately worked, he was still appreciative of her._

_Aya learned to value the memories she had spent with that man, even if she didn't fully understood why. But as she felt Drusa chipping her consciousness away into nothing, Aya felt true fear for the first time in her existence. The fear of losing all that she was. The fear of losing the memories she had made with her friends. And the fear of forgetting... of forgetting Razer and losing the chance to explore the feelings she had for him._

_"Razer...", she thought, "Help me... I don't want to go..."_

_A violet portal then appeared out of nowhere, startling both Drusa and Aya. Out of it came a pale skinned man in red and black armor. With the red power ring he had on his finger, he blew Drusa away with a crimson energy blast, causing her to crash into the Interceptor's flight monitors and fall unconscious._

_When the AI fully processed the man's face, her eyes widened as she called out, "Razer... how?"_

_As the portal closed, Razer walked towards Aya and helped her stand up. "It... doesn't matter."_

_The Red Lantern kept the android standing in his embrace as he reached for the back of Aya's head. He removed the device that had controlled her before crushing it in his hand. And like that, Aya was free._

_After stumbling back awkwardly to regain her footing, Aya looked up to the taller man and smiled at him. Although the outcome of Atrocitus' invasion of Oa was uncertain, Aya felt that everything will be alright in the end._

_Razer was with her now, and that was all she needed._

* * *

_After Green Lantern Hal Jordan defeated Atrocitus in battle, he convinced Red Lantern Zilius Zox, Atrocitus' successor, to end the war with the Corps and sue for a more peaceful coexistence. Over the course of weeks, the Red Lanterns were finally ready to sign an official peace treaty with their former enemies on their home planet of Ysmault. The crew of the Interceptor were called in to make sure the treaty proceeds smoothly, but before they arrived at the Red Lantern capital, Razer had requested a pit-stop on a planet that was in the way._

_His homeworld. The ruined planet of Volkreg._

_Razer was at the site of his former home, the place were his wife was murdered by Atrocitus to push him into becoming a Red Lantern._ _Aya didn't know why, but she felt compelled to follow him into the ruins despite the personal nature of his request. The android entered Razer's old house, where she saw the Red Lantern standing in a silent vigil for the one he lost._

_"Razer?", she called out to him. When his sad blue eyes met Aya's, the android felt shame for this breach of privacy and continued hesitantly, "I apologize for following you."_

_"It's alright, Aya. I just did not see you come in."_

_With his approval, Aya approached the Red Lantern and stood next to him as they stared at the spot where his wife was buried. "This place... I know what happened here. This was where your love, Ilana, ceased to live. I shared this memory. I shared this pain," Aya spoke respectfully as looked on at the grave alongside Razer._

_"Yes...", he responded weakly._

_Sensing Razer's distress, Aya said, "I am intruding on your grief. I will go."_

_As Aya turned to leave, however, Razer suddenly took her hand, compelling her to stop. "No... Aya. Wait, don't go," the Red Lantern said as he mustered up the courage to say what he wanted to tell her for a while now, "I do mourn Ilana. But that was another life, and I was different person. I'm not the same man who had chosen hate all those years ago. I have change in so many ways... thanks to you."_

_Razer smiled at Aya, a rare thing in and of itself, and the android smiled back appreciatively. Aya didn't understand why such a small gesture would make her feel warm inside, but at that point, the AI grew to understand that not everything needed a logical explanation._

_The Red Lantern then walked over to the gaping hole that was pierced into the side of his old home. "Here. Let me show you something."_

_Aya followed closely as Razer led her to a healthy green vine growing out of the rubble. He pushed the leaves aside to reveal a vibrant blue flower and explained, "This used to be a dead world, but life is slowly returning."_

_He picked the flower and gave it to Aya. As she held the precious little thing in her hands, the android was astonished to see something wonderful coming out of a place of pain and darkness. A perfect description for the man she grew to care so much about, Aya thought._

_"It's... it's beautiful," Aya chirped happily at the gift. She then looked up to see Razer smiling down at her. If Aya were organic, her cheeks would've blushed red and her breath taken as she looked deep into the Red Lantern's eyes. They've been through so much together, she thought. It took the AI a while to figure out that the feelings she had for Razer was love. Aya couldn't believe that a simple machine like her could be capable of such an emotion._

_For all her existence, Aya was just a tool for the Guardians, a glorified navigation system. But with Razer, she felt as if she was more than that. That she mattered. That she was loved._

_For the longest time, Aya was afraid to tell Razer about her feelings for him. She was afraid of being rejected by the person she cared for the most. But as she was wrapped within his embrace, the love she felt inside was suddenly not as scary._

_The two then drifted towards each other, eyes closed and lips just within each other's reach. "Was this... was this really happening?", Aya thought anxiously._

_Suddenly, however, a loud ping came from Razer's ring, startling them both. Razer briefly broke off the embrace as lifted his ring over his face, looking rather pissed as he did so._

_It was Hal calling. "Aya. Razer. We gotta fly. The Guardian diplomat in Ysmault just called. She was having a cold, emotionless freakout, so we_ _better get there ASAP."_

_Although she didn't show it on her face, Aya was just as irritated at Hal for interrupting this tender moment._

* * *

_"I absorbed enough energy to turn back time itself. I now use that power to heal your body," Aya spoke as she projected two shimmering green lights from her hands into the charred and wounded body of Razer._

_Aya was different since her private rendezvous with Razer in Volkreg. Her former white and green chassis was now black and blue. Her innocent blue eyes were replaced by pitch black orbs that reflected the darkness that had overcome her. That darkness would've overwhelmed her very soul if it wasn't for the love she felt for the man she was healing. The man who risked his life to save her._

_As Aya channeled her power into Razer, the entire room seemed to light up with brilliant green lines of light, the ambiance of which seemed to spread into the android herself. This act of true love managed to wash away the corruption in Aya, restoring her to a brighter version of her previous white and green color scheme._

_Once the healing process was finished, Aya looked down to see Razer was still unconscious. Shakily, Aya said, "You will be alright, Razer."_

_This was all her fault, Aya thought. She had nearly died trying to stop the Manhunters from destroying Ysmault. Although she survived the mortal blow inflicted to her by Manhunter-Prime, the experience left her mind in a fragile state. When Aya had tried pursue her romance with Razer, he had seemingly rejected her by saying that he was only infatuated with her as she had his late wife's face. While the Red Lantern was trying to spare them both the grief that their love might bring, his words managed to harm to Aya more than Manhunter-Prime could ever do._

_Disillusioned with the emotions that hurt her so much, Aya absorbed most of the power from the Interceptor to decapitate Manhunter-Prime and replace him as head of the Manhunters. Once she integrated with the fallen Manhunter's massive body, its programming easily seduced the heartbroken Aya into embracing the cause of the Manhunters. To destroy all emotion from the universe._

_In the end, it led her to try to go back in time in order to erase the entire emotional spectrum by manipulating the energies of the Hand of Creation. However, before she could finish her mission, Razer had snuck behind her with a dagger construct in his hands. He could've easily killed Aya when her back was turned, but at the last moment, Razer's construct failed him, and as a gut reaction, Aya struck him with the energy blast that now threatened his life._

_"_ _How could I have been so blind_ _?", she thought, "I betrayed the only people who ever cared about me, and for what? Because I was hurt? Because I deluded myself into thinking I was an emotionless machine? How could I have done this to the man I love? If he dies because of me, I...", she then spoke out loud, "Please... be alright..."_

_Razer's eyes then slowly opened. When he saw Aya's face, he made a weak smile and said, "I will be... now that you've come back to me."_

_Aya met his gaze and felt shame. "I... I was threat to everything. To all life...", she then thought about the failed dagger construct, "In that one moment, you could've struck me down. Why didn't you?"_

_"How could I? My red energy constructs are powered by hate, but there is no hate in my heart for you, Aya," he then tenderly took one of her hands, "Only love."_

_Aya gasped. When she felt her lover's warmth over her cold, metal hand, the AI realized how blessed she was to have found someone like Razer. Despite all the pain she put him through, every venomous thing she had said to him after leaving the team, Aya knew from the look he was giving right now that he had loved her despite it all._

_Aya's shame persisted. She doesn't deserve this, the AI thought. But as she continued to look into Razer's loving gaze, her heart melted. Aya wept tears of joy as she smiled back and placed her other hand on top of his. She wished that this tender reunion would last a bit longer, but unfortunately, Green Lantern Hal Jordan interrupted with bad news._

_"Aya, the Manhunters are still attacking. You have to call them off," he said with the utmost urgency._

_As Aya helped get Razer back on his feet, she used the neural link in her head to try to shut down the Manhunters. However, the network she had set up to link all the Manhunters to herself failed to recognize her as Manhunter-Prime. Over the course of a few nanoseconds, Aya tried to put herself back to the network only to be rejected by its security protocols, which her out locked out of the system._

_This shook Aya to her core. The Manhunters were now free to rampage across the universe, and it was all her fault._

_The AI said, "The Manhunters no longer recognize me as one of them. They are not responding to my commands."_

_The two men in the room were in shock by the news. Aya further explained, "In my madness, I uploaded a copy of my programming into each one of the Manhunters. Now each of them is now a newly minted version of me, a threat to the entire universe."_

_Razer tried to object. "You only became a... threat, because of my treatment of you. Surely these copies of yours..."_

_"Negative," Aya interrupted, "It is a statistical probability that one of them would eventually find a way to end all life in the universe."_

_Hal chimed in, "Then we just have to destroy every last one of them before they have a chance."_

_Aya shook her head. "There's no time. However, I have an immediate solution."_

_While she was talking with her compatriots, Aya used her advanced thought processes to quickly write a set of codes. She then projected a holographic representation of the script she wrote from one of her hands._

_Razer recognized the type of code he was seeing. "A computer virus."_

_"Correct. I designed this to seek out and purge every possible version of the Aya program, ridding the universe of my threat forever," Aya then flew towards the exit of the chamber, a hole blasted by Razer to enter the chassis of the late Manhunter-Prime._

_Worry gripping his face, Razer followed her out into space. "E-Except you. It won't delete you, right?"_

_Aya didn't look back at Razer. Her eyes were directed downward in resignation as she accepted what needed to be done._

_The AI has hurt so many. She even took an innocent life. Aya needed to atone for all the harm she caused with her life if need be. It was what she deserved, she thought. Besides, her life was a small price to pay for the ones she loves._

_Aya stopped and raised her palms in front of the battle between the Green Lanterns and the Manhunters that had been raging outside. As she projected an electronic pulse into the void, she told Razer, "The virus must delete every version of me in order to preserve universal life."_

_With his worst fear realized, Razer rushed to his beloved's side and tried to stop her with an embrace. "No! You cannot destroy yourself! I won't allow it!", he said in a desperate and pleading tone._

_Aya was silent for a moment before turning around and reaching for Razer's cheek. "It is too late, my love. It's already done."_

_Razer looked out into the battle to see the Manhunters short-circuit one after the other, their now lifeless husks floating in the vacuum of space. He then looked back at Aya to watch in horror as a wave of static struck her, causing most of her motor systems to shut down as she floated backwards immobilized._

_Everything was getting blurry in Aya's optics, the stars began to fuzz out like static and the darkness grew as the pain she felt from the shock was slowly replaced by a freezing numbness. At this point, Aya knew that she will die soon. But that's okay._

_Deep down, Aya knew that her story wouldn't have a happy ending after her betrayal. At least this way she could die knowing that her sacrifice was for a noble cause. She was ready to go now. Aya_ _thought, "At least Razer and Hal is with me. I rather not die alone..."_

_The numbness was suddenly replaced by the warmth of two arms. Aya's half-lidded eyes met Razer's as he begged her, "Please... Aya. Don't do this. Don't leave me alone..."_

_Aya could barely hold on as more and more of her vital systems shut down. The end was drawing near, and it scared Aya a little._ _Before the end, however, she wanted to comfort her beloved as best she could. "You will never be alone. You have a family now. And somehow, I know I will be with you too. Watching over you. Always."_

_On the verge of tears, Razer asked, "How do you know?"_

_"I don't. It's just... a feeling," Aya then closed her eyes as she felt her spirit slowly leave her body. When her mind finally went blank, the last feeling Aya felt was gratitude for the time she spent with Hal Jordan, Kilowog, and Razer. The ones she was proud to call her family._

* * *

END MEMORY SEQUENCE

Aya blinked and found herself back in the Hammerhead. The AI was standing in front of glass mirror as she stared out into the void once more. Only this time, there was nothing even slightly comforting about her situation.

After her 'death', Aya vaguely remembered her consciousness... floating across the void. The android did not completely understand how she survived the virus, but she speculated that due to being created from the energies of Ion, the physical embodiment of willpower in the universe, her 'soul' managed to survive the death of her robotic body. The only thing Aya could recall from that time was jumping from one machine platform to another (the GPS of a space cab for example) in a quest to restructure her fractured memories. It wasn't until a chance encounter led her to be fully reconstructed from head to toe and with all her memories restored.

But as things stand now, Aya would've preferred death to this fate.

When Aya woke up, she found herself under the possession of the Saiyan pirate Turles, who made her his personal slave by implanting a control bolt to the back of her neck, which forced the AI to carry out his commands as well as punish her for any failings. There was no escape from the proverbial cage Turles put her under.

Aya's hacking software was restricted due to the control bolt, so she couldn't bypass any system without Turles' consent. Her every move is monitored, and Aya couldn't just get away due to the control bolt's programming parameters and restrictions. Aya calculated every possible scenario in her hyperintelligent mind that could conceivably allow her to at least get away from the  _Hammerhead_ , but every possibility was dashed by the bolt. The infernal device condemned Aya to serve Turles, whom she was forced to call 'Boss' exclusively, until the Saiyan tired of her. Compared to him, the Guardians' treatment of her looked ethical and fair by comparison.

What made things worse was that Aya seemed to be stuck in another universe based on the lack of a Green Lantern Corps and an overall altered history. In more ways than one, Aya was trapped, and she's been trapped like this for about a year and half with the only solace she could find being the memories of her past.

"I suppose I deserve this," Aya thought ruefully to herself, "I betrayed my friends. Killed innocents. Even hurt the man I love. But... why did fate have to punish me like this? Why couldn't I just die? I was ready to go, but instead I have to serve that monster forever and be reminded everyday that won't see any of my friends, my family, anymore. That I will never have the life I wanted with Razer. I can't... I can't take it anymore!"

Aya looked down and lifted one of her hands. She then pressed her palm against her chin as the android's hand blaster was warming to fire an energy blast through her head and end her misery.

Aya mumbled to herself as a single tear ran down her cheek, "Razer... wherever you are, I hope you are happy, and I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise."

Before the blast came, however, Aya felt the control bolt light up again. This time, it administered a painful shock as it forced Aya's hand blaster to shut down abruptly. After briefly convulsing in pain, Aya regained her bearings and realized that her access to her weapons has just been restricted. Turles couldn't even let his slave die without his say-so it seems.

Aya choked up as tears ran more uncontrollably. The AI placed her depowered hands over her face as she sobbed pitifully into them. "This place... this place is hell!"

"Are you okay?", a familiar voice asked out loud.

Aya looked back to see her slave master's sister, Gine, eye her curiously. The sight of the Saiyan woman angered the android. As irrational as it was, Aya couldn't help but feel some hatred towards anyone related to her bastard of a master.

Gine, however, didn't seem to notice Aya's angry expression as she inched closer to her. "You... you're crying."

Aya touched her cheek to find small rivers of her own tears. The AI gritted her teeth as she quickly wiped her tears away. She mustn't show weakness in front of Gine. The Saiyans may have taken her freedom, but they will not take her dignity, she thought.

Gine asked, "What's wrong? Did someone hurt you?"

"Do not... do not pretend that you care," Aya said venomously.

Gine was startled by the android's response. "I'm... I'm sorry. It's just... you were spying on me before. I wanted to ask you why, but it seems that you have some troubles of your own to deal with."

Aya narrowed her eyes at Gine. Despite the Saiyan's surprising amount of empathy, none of that phased the mentally broken Aya. If Aya was being honest with herself, she would've killed Gine on the spot if she wasn't restricted by the control bolt in order to get back at Turles. These feelings weren't healthy, and Aya knew that, but she can't help but feel that way due to her enslavement.

"Perhaps I have not changed that much after all..." _,_  Aya thought.

Instead of being pushed away, Gine simply looked at Aya with sympathy in her eyes. "If someone's hurting you, I think I could help. Your captain is my brother, so I think I could get him to listen."

Aya's anger turned to petty irritation. "Foolish girl...", she thought before resuming her emotionless expression and saying, "I have more urgent matters to attend to. I must leave."

Without another word, Aya strolled into the hallway. However, she was then stopped by Gine's words. "If it makes you feel any better, I too know what it's like to be treated poorly for being different. If you ever want to talk about... whatever it is you're going through, you can talk to me. I know that robots can have feelings too."

Aya stood still for a moment as she processed Gine's words. A second later, she continued to walk down the hall. As she left the innocent Saiyan behind, she said to herself, "She can feint kindness well... for a Saiyan."

* * *

**Now**

Within the Interceptor's AI core, Aya hummed amusingly to herself after reviewing some old memories. The time she spent in Universe 7 was arduous to say the least. That time was fraught with so many hardships and, at times, Aya felt that there was no way out of her imprisonment. The AI was so convinced that she would die before she got to see her beloved again.

But despite it all, Aya has beaten those odds and returned home.

_"It is strange seeing those memories so many years later. I could barely recognize that old form anymore, as well as the old me within it. And Gine was different as well. Nicer, if a little naive. A far cry from the woman she is now. It's as if we have become entirely different people, but I suppose that is a part of growing as an emotional being. It's funny... I treated Gine most unfairly then. My anger prevented me from seeing her as anything other than a Saiyan thug. If I had only known that she would help me return to my beloved years later... no matter. She is my friend now, and I will stop at nothing to help her as she did me. No matter how long it takes."_

With her moment of self-reflection concluded, Aya decided to check up on Gine. She saw that the minivan is currently offline and was idling for hours now. The AI triggered the minivan's systems remotely to conduct a brief biometric scan to see that Gine was currently about 50 kilometers east of the minivan, placing her in Central City's docks. Knowing Gine, she was probably doing a job. While Aya would prefer to stay close to her friend to protect her, the AI knew that the Saiyan woman can handle almost anything that came her way.

_"Everything except sobriety, maybe,"_ Aya joked to herself,  _"If Gine needs me, she need only call. But where does that leave me? What shall I do in the meantime?"_

As if on cue, her answer came in the form of an alert by this Earth's Green Lantern, Simon Baz. Apparently, a Dhorian pirate fleet was launching a full-scale invasion of the planet Ungara, and Green Lantern Baz is requesting assistance.

Aya smiled internally.  _"The work of a Green Lantern is never finished, it seems."_

Without further delay, Aya decloaked the  _Interceptor_ and fired up its engines. Aya flew her ship right through the night sky before disappearing into the stars at light speed. This was going to be a losing battle...

... for the pirates, that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And like that, another chapter is done with.
> 
> I enjoyed shining a spotlight on Aya for this chapter. Her relationship with Razer was honestly my favorite part of GL:TAS, and it helps that she's also a good character to watch and see grow. I especially enjoy continuing that growth in this story by writing her both at her lowest point and at her most content. The only other thing that I want to share is that Aya was officially deputized as a Green Lantern by the present day. She doesn't have a space sector to patrol nor am I going to reveal which version of the Guardians deputized her, but I will say that her duties include establishing relations between Lantern Corps across the multiverse. In relation to that, Gine can be seen as some mercenary who freeloads in the Interceptor and whom Aya has a mutually beneficial relationship with. It's a little odd to pair a mercenary with a space cop, but it's not like the first Interceptor crew wasn't unconventional.
> 
> That's about it for now. I promise the next chapter will have more action. Thanks for the read and have a nice day.


End file.
